The Difference Clean Water Makes for Little Boy is Life-Changing
8-year-old Melvin is a hard-working boy who came to live with his Grandma after his parents abandoned him. They have learned to depend on each other. “I help my grandmother as much as I can,” Melvin told us with a sense of pride. “I help her with the firewood, I also wash dishes.”
“Melvin is like my son, because I have taken care of him since he was a little boy,” added Grandma Gilma. “It takes a lot of effort to provide him with clothes, shoes and food.”
Their greatest need in this remote community in the mountains of Honduras is clean water. Every morning Grandma and Melvin walk to get water from a cement box, or “pila,” that collects polluted runoff from the hill. “That’s one of the places we go to fetch water, even though we know it is dirty,” said Gilma. “It has a bad smell, but we have no choice.”
In recent years, getting water from that source has become more dangerous. “The water became even more contaminated when they built houses and latrines near the pila,” Gilma observed. “I remember one day I went to get water and it was muddy,” said Melvin. “But I was very thirsty and had to drink it.”
“He got sick a lot in his stomach,” said Grandma with emotion filling her voice. “He got diarrhea and would vomit. At times Melvin would say to me, ‘why are you crying?’ I said, ‘because it is a constant struggle to find clean water for us to drink.'”
So Operation Blessing met with members of the community and located a source of fresh water, higher up the mountain, in an underground stream. We then dug trenches, laid pipe, and refurbished a 15,000 gallon tank to hold and purify the water. We then ran pipes from the tank to every home in the community, including Grandma and Melvin’s house.
“The water is very delicious, very cold,” said Melvin. “And I can drink water whenever I want it!”
“Now he doesn't get sick in his stomach anymore,” said a grateful Gilma. "I hear him shouting with joy when he takes a bath! Thank you so much for giving us clean water!”
