Vimal’s Story: A Jesus Well Was the Answer to Their Clean Water Crisis
Vimal grew up in an agrarian village where most of the locals were farmers, relying on small ponds to irrigate their fields and sustain their livestock. Women relied on the single water well in the village, almost a mile away, for their daily cooking, bathing and cleaning needs. To get enough water for these tasks, they and their children made four or five trips to the well every day, carrying heavy buckets of water on their heads.
Every March through May, drought settled in Vimal’s area, exasperating their water crisis by drying up the small ponds and turning the fields to dust. No longer able to water their cattle in the little streams and ponds in the fields, Vimal and the other farmers of the village brought their livestock to join the women and children at the well, swelling the line waiting for water.
Bickering often broke out in these long lines because villagers were convinced their own needs were greatest. During the dry season, there was not enough water to go around, and villagers had to forgo bathing and limit cooking. The lack of access to clean water filled the village with tension and illness.
Compliments of Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
© 2021 Gospel for Asia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
You can also view this video as:
Vimal’s Story: A Jesus Well Was the Answer to Their Clean Water Crisis
Read the article on Global Water Crisis
Click here to read the entire transcript of this video:
What would you do if the water to your house was cut off for three months?
“Mom, there’s no water!”
“There’s no water.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m thirsty!”
“Dad!”
This is what happens to families in Asia every year from March through May. In this part of the world, there is no rainfall at this time of year. The result is a severe lack of clean, pure drinking water
Father Bharit (local pastor): “This area is very dry, and people suffer because of a lack of sufficient water.”
Devji (Villager): “Wells, rivers, ponds, everything dries up.”
And many of these sources of water are extremely unhealthy to drink from and can result in a number of water-borne illnesses. Some even lead to death. A young boy in Vimal’s village became very sick.
Vimal (Villager): “The boy passed away. There are deaths related to consuming this kind of water.”
Another problem that people face during this dry season is having to walk longer distances to get water. In many cases, it will take a three hour round trip just to get a couple buckets of water.
Anita (Villager): “I used to walk three kilometers with my mother to get water. I used to feel very tired and exhausted. There was no other option.”
Mamta (Villager): “I used to feel very tired and worn out from carrying heavy loads.”
The effort it takes to acquire water limits how the people use the water. If they have livestock that adds an additional burden.
Vimal (Villager): “We did our best to use as little water as possible. There is no water for washing clothes, so we wear them dirty. We would reuse the water from washing dishes, for flushing the toilet or taking a bath.”
The lack of water has many negative effects upon families. Missing school, missing work, not being able to grow crops, getting sick. These are just a few problems that the people face because of lack of a nearby clean water source.
Nimal (Villager): “Because my daughter had to fetch water every morning, she missed a lot of school and failed her tenth-grade examination. She wanted to study science but now she cannot go on to further studies.”
In 2016, Gospel for Asia installed a Jesus Well in this village, very near to Vimal’s house. After the well was installed, Vimal’s wife and daughter no longer had to walk three hours round trip, twice a day, to get water. His daughter was able to go to school regularly and Vimal was no longer missing work. They have all the water they need to wash clothes, wash dishes, bathe, water their animals, water the garden … You get the picture.
A Jesus Well solved many problems that Vimal and his family faced due to the clean water crisis, the scarcity of clean, pure drinking water. But, it didn’t just help Vimal, the entire village benefited from this Jesus Well. The well water was even tested in a lab and was shown to be very pure safe and clean, and to safe to drink.
Vimal (Villager): “I felt very happy that a Jesus Well was installed just in front of my house. Now I don’t have to send my daughter and wife to fetch water from such a far away place. It was such a blessing that the Lord answered our prayers and gave us this Jesus Well in our village. I was so happy. Now the time spent in fetching water can be invested in other work. My children don’t have to miss the school bus and I don’t have to spend money on doctors and medicine because we are drinking clean water from the Jesus Well.”
Vimal told us there are many other villages in his region that do not have access to safe water. He is very thankful for the Jesus Well in his village and hopes more families and communities can be helped like he was.
Vimal (Villager): “The water crisis is not only particular to my village, it is in the entire region. There are several villages and places where people are suffering worse than us. We need Jesus Wells in many places.”
If you would like to help provide a Jesus Well to a needy village in Asia, please visit gfa.org/water