MAF passengers Ronald Rotich and Victor Dihanda spent a week in Mvolo to assess the need for a project to bring clean water together with the gospel to communities in need.
Ronald Rotich is Africa Director for the Bucket Ministry, a Christian organisation with a mission to provide clean, safe, drinking water and the ‘Living Water’ to families living in under-resourced areas around the world.
‘The Bucket Ministry, it is based in the USA but we have done projects in Kenya. What we do is we give out a Sawyer water filter to each and every home. We use it as a tool to share the gospel,’ he says.
The high-quality water filter manufactured in the US will provide the household with safe, clean water free from contaminants for 20 years - the span of a childhood.
We loved our flight with MAF it was so awesome! The pilot was so friendly – and it is nice when you know someone is a Christian because they say, ‘Let’s pray before we go!’
They’ve had great success in Kenya and the Bucket Ministry are now turning their attention to South Sudan.
‘In Kibera where we’ve been working, we’ve given over 90,000 filters,’ Ronald explains, sharing how evangelists go door-to-door offering high quality filter to each and every household. He’s heard great testimonies of lives that have been changed.
‘We came to South Sudan to do a survey to identify the challenges and understand what the community are going through.’
They flew to Mundri, a 40-minute flight, with MAF, and drove the two and a half hours to Mvolo by road.
‘In Mvolo, we discovered that there is really a need for clean water because they get their water from the swamp areas which is not good for their health. We went to the river very early in the morning when people collect their water. They would tell us, if we don’t boil this water then we will get sick.’
For clean drinking water, Ronald explains, the women walk for up to 3 miles to access a borehole.
‘When they go there, they don’t have clean containers so, the water is contaminated by the time they get it home. It’s pointless to go all the way over there for something that is dirty. We can see the struggles the community is facing,’ he says.
The team are committed to reaching the whole community, not just the households in the centre of town and partner with local Christians to do outreach.
‘We make sure we know the name of each and every community and village - and know about all the houses that are there.
‘We partner with likeminded local churches. We do a church assessment to make sure the fit is good. We also look for the local missionaries to share the gospel. We use local people to do that. When we find someone in Mundri we can partner with, we will bring them to Kenya for training for a period of one month. After that, they come back, digest what they’ve learnt and start the process.’
Their second MAF flight has brought them back to the capital Juba.
‘We loved our flight with MAF it was so awesome! The pilot was so friendly – and it is nice when you know someone is a Christian because they say, ‘Let’s pray before we go!’ It a nice one. It was a good experience flying MAF. It is our prayer that we can fly with you in the future,’ he says.
‘This is our first visit to South Sudan. Getting to some of the communities is very challenging. If you want to bring more friends to see the work, it is a challenge to travel to Mvolo, particularly during the rainy season. It can be hard to get a car to travel on the road.’
It was a good experience flying MAF. It is our prayer that we can fly with you in the future