Amigos por Agua
Imagine what it would be like to have running water for the first time in your life. The feeling of sheer joy and exhilaration. That’s exactly what these kids, residents of Chinandega, Nicaragua are feeling.
[All photos by John Bland, Amigos for Christ]
I just had an article published in the wH2O Journal, the Journal of Gender and Water. I’ve been on the editorial board there for the last five or six years, a labor of love that I feel is so very important because it relates to the narrative we tell about water.
You can read the article here.
There is so much to say about water: how women bear the burden of collecting water where it is not readily provided or available; how approximately a billion people lack access to clean, safe water and about 2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation; how that lack of access can lead to infant mortality, a myriad of adult diseases, and even death; and how the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals are working to assure that one day, everyone will have access to water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH.
Here’s the abstract from my article, Amigos por Agua:
The role of non-profit organizations in outfitting the developing world with clean water has become more extensive as the world’s population grows, especially in places such as Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. Nicaraguans suffer high rates of kidney disease, respiratory illnesses and parasites as a result of water borne diseases. NGOs such as Amigos for Christ are stepping in to fill the void in Chinandega where the local government lacks the financial wherewithal to provide a basic WASH infrastructure to its inhabitants. It is the goal of Amigos for Christ to bring water to every household in Chinandega thereby improving the health, education and welfare of the populace. This article is based on transcripts from an interview on how this NGO accomplishes their work.
With a staff of 123, this small but mighty group is aiming to bring water to every home in Chinandega — population approximately 150,000 — and in doing so will alter those residents lives forever.
Amigos digs wells, runs water lines and installs bathrooms such as the one pictured above, AND they teach organic farming methods to the locals so they can improve their standard of living. It’s an amazing organization with a terrific track record of improving people’s lives.
I encourage you to read the interview with John Bland, founder of Amigos for Christ. You may be moved to take a week off from work and head to Nicaragua to help drill a well. Or maybe you’d like to send Amigos a donation. Or even offer up a good wish or two for their continued success.
Whatever you do, I dare you not to be inspired.
pam lazos 3.11.20
Green Life Blue Water 
This is such a great project! I will be donating! 🙂
Blessings!
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Aww, thank you so much!!🥰👏👌🙏
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A terrific piece, Pam! Be proud, and shout for this cause from the rafters! xxxxxxx
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Thanks, Jean. All seems beside the point now during such weird times. 😫
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Hey, people still need water. They still need to be able to clean and care for themselves, so it’s more important than ever!
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So so true.💕
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I hope they succeed. It reminds me of the machine that gets water from the air, designed for places like this.
Love, light, and glitter
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😍
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Definitely aware of the importance of water to our bodies but the feel of it on our skin–hadn’t really considered that. It is a special feel, one it’s hard to imagine some never knowing. Thanks for sharing this.
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My pleasure, Jacqui. Thanks for reading!
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Wonderful article and post Pam. The look on those children’s faces touches my heart.
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Me, too, Michele. So joyful!!
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I try to be aware and conserve as much as possible. It is high time we stop taking things for granted.
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Thank you, dear Damyanti. ❤️
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We should never take access to water for granted… thank you so much for sharing this information
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So true! Thanks for stopping by, Denise!
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They are doing important and meaningful work! And I’m so glad you are posting about it and helping to bring it to everyone’s attention!
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Thanks, Leah. I would love to go there and help dig a well someday!
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Thank you for this, and Amigos for Christ for being another organisation trying to get clean water and sanitation to people in developing countries – it is amazing and very shaming to the West (and to various governments) that this help is still needed and this work not yet done… And that as kids growing up, many of us who had these things were unaware of those who still didn’t… and who still don’t…
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It is quite a great divide, Mari. Hopefully with organizations such as Amigos, there will one day be no divide.
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A good reminder about something a lot of us take for granted.
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Especially now with the coronavirus and the need to wash your hands 59 times a day, Ken. 😳
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A fantastic organization. Their actions and goals are profound.
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They are remarkable. Thanks, Neil!
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I cannot imagine living without running water so this project amazes me. The scope of it and the generosity of it. Thanks for sharing your article here. The more you know, the more you can help others.
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So true, Ally. Thanks for reading!
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Wonderful .
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Thanks, Ms. Shey.😘
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My younger girl did some work in Malawi mianly for Aids orphans, Anyway the team were helping build a feeding centre in the bush and like that… there wasn’t enough money for the centre to have a a loo and sink so one of the team who was a builder back here he just put his hand in his pocket and people were like on your photos .
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That’s awesome. It’s amazing how much we take for granted. Given the choice between being the queen of England – or Scotland! – in, say, the 1600’s, or having flush toilets today and just being an average person, I’m going for the flush toilet! 🚽
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OMG yes. Especially given how awful these courts were. And how these queens were not actually queens at all in terms of real power.
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Oh, how well you know that, you fine writer or historical fiction, you. I’m almost done reading Lady Fury and the twists are wonderful!👏👏👏
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Pam, you are too kind. Truly. That is such a lovely thing to say. I never plan on any of these twists even the entire biz of her and Jamaica …right at the start, so I shouldn’t really take credit for any forward planning x
Re the queens I have always been interested re women in the past and their roles and actual real power, as in even when they were ‘rulers’ and obvi the ones who managed to stand out. The ones who did were frequently not queens.
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Britain’s managed, but maybe not so many others. Methinks wenneed more powerful women in leadership roles. 🛡 ⚔️
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Yep. You preach to the converted xxxx
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Guess we’ll have to show’ em, huh? 🤔 😂
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We need power to the elbows lady x
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Elbow bump back at you, sister! xox
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bumpin’ bumpin’.
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Such a basic need, and one which every government should be addressing!
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Amen to that, Mick.
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Beautifully illustrated, Pam – the words and the pictures work really well together.
How easy it is for those of us with water-services to take them for granted. The figures you quote are shocking, and shaming. It’s hard to believe that we’ve got so much 2020 technology, and there are still so many who don’t have access to basic commodities.
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Isn’t that the crime of it, Cath, that we can’t get this technology to the world? Rather than building ski slopes in the desert (Dubai), let’s build the infrastructure for basic human services. 🙏
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Ah, if only…
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😘
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Brilliant article by you Pam – I read it, though it was speed reading since our electricity is out – although as I type it has just come back on!!! Kudos on John and Sabrina and their children being so involved in the ongoing of bringing fresh clean water to the communities. Access to fresh clean water is a concern in our country too for those who live in rural areas (electricity too, tho it is becoming less available to All of us – our SOE is facing MEGA problems). Our women in the rural areas have to walk great distances to fetch water and walk back. Washing is often done in the rivers as is their toilet so the rivers are often polluted. With the drought we’re experiencing we have many NGO’s doing the work of government (plenty of money but in the hands of corrupt politicians). One organisation that does so much that it defies belief is Gift of the Givers, not only locally but abroad as well.
Kudos to the UN’s plans –
The photo of the children is adorable!
Thank you for this. I’ll read the whole article again at a more leisurely pace…. 🙂 xx
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Susan, thank you for reading the article! The problem is so widespread and the numbers so large that after awhile they are only numbers, but then you get a taste of what it’s like not to have water 💦 flow easily when you turn on the tap or you experience rolling blackouts band suddenly you realize how difficult it is without these things we’ve taken for granted. It breaks my heart that people, women especially, must use the same river to wash their clothes, get drinking water and as a toilet. It’s amazing more people haven’t died. I do hope that everyone has access to clean water someday and that groups like Amigos provide the inspiration and the impetus for other groups to spring up and fill the gap that governments cannot. ❤️
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So incredibly sweet and innocent. We need to protect them.
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Yes, we do, Cindy. 💗
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