Even with COVID, we had a productive year
It’s hard to believe that another year has passed and we are just beginning to move out from under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, 2021 saw a great deal of exciting change for Hope Springs Water.
Our WaSH zones now include Ethiopia, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Kenya, and The Colonias along the Texas-Mexico border.
Our team was able to travel to Nicaragua in June of this year, where we joined a team from Bryan, Texas to drill a water well in a village along the Prinzipolka River. We also introduced Hope for Girls, our menstrual management program, to the schools in several villages along the river. The three-year plan there is to improve access to safe water in 12 indigenous communities, provide gender-specific latrines in the schools of those villages, offer deworming programs coupled with health and hygiene education, and offer menstrual management education and reusable menstrual products for the girls in those schools.
Our team was able to travel to Ethiopia in early October, where we were able to meet with our team at Hope For Life, catch up on where things are in our relationship with the government, evaluate and update our equipment, and plan future projects. Our Ethiopian team drilled six wells after our last trip and has three more funded and planned before the end of the year. That will bring the total of wells drilled this year to 15. While in Bantu, our team was able to present the Hope for Girls menstrual management program to 78 schoolgirls and give them each a kit containing washable, reusable menstrual supplies that last three years. We are beginning to ramp up our focus on sanitation now and will begin that campaign within the next several months, so long as the political climate continues to allow us to do that.
We were blessed to be able to drill a well in Bungoma, Kenya earlier this year and have received funding to drill another one to serve the Mateka Children’s Home near Bungoma. Country Coordinator Damon Donnell reported he is working with Rotary International on a grant to drill 10 additional wells in that region. Additionally, in May we were able to raise $4,000 to provide anti-malaria vaccinations to 1,000 children in Bungoma County through a partnership with In Jesus Global Missions.
Because the countries of Belize and Guatemala have had their borders closed for most of 2021 due to COVID-19, we have been unable to travel there to perform any work in the villages.
Our team traveled to the Brownsville-Matamoros border this summer to evaluate the situation there and take menstrual supplies to our partners to be distributed to the refugees along the border. We also spoke with water department officials in McAllen, Texas about water needs along the Rio Grande in The Colonias found there. We have been sending regular truckloads of water to Brownsville to assist the efforts to serve the people of the area.
In summary, 2021 has been a challenging yet highly productive year. We are not only meeting the current needs of our organization but moving forward to expand our highly successful programs. Thank you for joining us on the journey to bring Hope to the World! God bless you!
C. Ted Mettetal, M.D.
Founder and CEO
Hope Springs Water
