A Mother’s Journey for Water - and a Chance to Help

A Mother’s Journey for Water – and a Chance to Help

Imagine leaving St. Anne’s Episcopal Church on foot, carrying a child on your back, a bundle of laundry in your arms, and empty buckets in your hands. Now walk to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. That’s about the distance the village mothers in Chujulimul travel to reach the river.

Now imagine the path isn’t flat. It is steep, uneven, and unforgiving. Every step down requires balance and care to keep the child on your back safe. At the river, clothes are washed by hand, and your children are bathed. Then comes the journey back up the mountain. The same distance, the same steep climb, but now your child is tired, the buckets are full of water, and the laundry is wet and heavy.

And the next day, you do it again, but this time at night, in pitch darkness, because yesterday, during daylight, you gathered water for household cleaning; tonight you gather drinking water after the other villagers have finished cleaning their laundry, their children, and themselves, and the river is just a little cleaner. Regardless, this is water that must be boiled before it can be safely consumed.

And they do this again, and again, and again.

I get my water by turning on a tap. They get their water by risking their safety. Ready access to clean water changes everything. It means fewer dangerous trips, more time with family, better health, and restored dignity. Through our Guatemala Water Project, we have an opportunity to partner with and support these mothers and collect and carry water to their homes.

I do not have the treasure to make the water project happen, but I commit my time and my talent to reassuring them that St. Anne’s loves them, prays for them, supports them, and that they will never be forgotten.

If you have the time and can share your talents, please join Linda Adamson, Jack Shea, and me in the villages in Guatemala from July 24th to the 30th. If you are unable this year, please consider helping St. Anne’s get closer to realizing every villager’s dream of having water available at their homes by offering a little portion of your treasure.

Today, we invite you to honor the strength and love of mothers – here and around the world – by supporting this life-changing work. We are reminded that the love we celebrate here is the same love lived out every day in villages across Guatemala, Kenya, and the world: a mother’s determination to care, to provide, and to protect. The difference is not love, but what it costs.

God’s abundant blessings be with you, and with all for whom we pray and support. Thank you!

Kev, Linda, Wayne, Mary, Paul, Diego, Lidia, Ricardo, and Adriana
PIMIG Executive Committee

Donate in honor of a special mother

Make an online donation above selecting PIMIG in the drop down menu or write a check to St. Anne’s with PIMIG Mother’s Day in the memo line.

Thank you for helping St. Anne’s to get closer to realizing every village mother’s dream of having water available at their homes!