Prepared for Paramount Baptist Church

Life-giving Water for Children in Eastern India Your compassion revealed through a water storage and filtration system

Friends at Paramount Baptist Church, thank you

for giving the gift of safe water to the children at

the Compassion child development center EI720

in eastern India. Because of your generosity, 235

boys and girls now have access to water that

ushers in health and strength.

May you be blessed as you hear of the lasting

impact your gift is having on these young lives.

Meeting of a Need In this remote, mountainous region, many

children have no access to safe water. Their

families do not have electricity and their 100-

square-foot homes are precariously built on

bamboo stilts. Lack of communication and

transportation cuts residents off from neighboring

communities.

These children have always carried the weight of

poverty. They have endured unsanitary

conditions, an unhealthy diet, and the daily

concern of when and where they will find clean

water. They have fought waterborne diseases that

sometimes prevent them from attending school

and activities at the child development center.

The parents of many of these children are

unemployed or underemployed, and gambling,

alcoholism and early-child marriage compound

the bondage of poverty.

Even as unsafe water has taken its toll,

Compassion center staff have persevered in their

holistic care of children, providing medical

assistance when children become ill to help them

return to center activities. Your provision, though,

has begun a new chapter — one in which the

children are healthier and available to fully

receive the nurturing and guidance offered by

their tutors and the Compassion center.

Because of your partnership with the local church

that hosts this center, leaders in town were able

to construct a tower for two storage tanks and a

dispensing system to sustainably supply safe,

clean water for the center’s children and staff.

Water from elevated storage tanks is piped through a maintenance-free water purifier to these dispensing containers, which are easily accessed by children and staff at the development center.

During the fall and winter of 2013, the following

action steps were taken:

• The center’s director and church leaders

selected a construction site.

• Leaders celebrated the groundbreaking

with a ceremony at the center and then

purchased all materials including cement,

steel rods, chips, sand, pipes and taps.

• Contractors and volunteers dug the pit for

the reinforced concrete column (RCC)

pillars. Church volunteers also helped

transport construction materials.

• The construction crew secured the RCC

slab and then positioned the tanks.

• The team installed plumbing, connected

the Bajaj maintenance-free water purifier,

and completed all necessary fittings.

• In celebration, team leaders facilitated a

dedication ceremony at the site.

Prepared for Paramount Baptist Church

Life-giving Water for Children in Eastern India Your compassion revealed through a water storage and filtration system

The Accomplishments of Your Compassion The clean-water initiative at Compassion child

development center EI720 has proven to be

successful. By helping to provide safe drinking

water, you have changed lives.

Two tanks each store 2,640 gallons of rainwater

collected during the five-month monsoon season.

This water is then filtered to become safe

drinking water for 235 children and the 16 adults

who care for them. The children no longer have

to spend hours walking to rivers or waiting in line

at community taps to collect and consume

contaminated water, and the center staff no

longer need to purchase water from local

suppliers.

One of the many benefits the children now enjoy

after receiving water- and food-safety education

is increased energy to attend activities at the

center. They are learning and adopting good

hygiene habits and eating safer, healthier meals

due to improved sanitation. They regularly

receive one-on-one training and tutoring to help

them succeed academically, socially and

spiritually.

Most important, the children are being freed from

waterborne diseases; this change is redefining

their lives.

The Enrichment of Children’s Lives A few months ago, the children in this region

were struggling to walk through their days in poor

health. Now they are beginning to walk in

wholeness because of your sacrificial gift.

Church leaders can now focus on the holistic

development of the young ones they serve at the

Khawdungsei center. As poverty begins to loosen

its grip, these children in eastern India are

beginning to live with hope. Sangi is a

Compassion-sponsored child who declares her

intent to make a difference in her lifetime: “I hope

I will be a healthy example to others and that our

community will make Compassion’s vision a

Rainwater is collected and stored in these two 2,640-gallon tanks, providing an ample supply for the center’s children and workers.

reality — that we’ll show love, not just in words

but also in action.”

The children’s neighborhoods are changing, too.

Families are drawn out of isolation to gather at

the new water source and see God’s love provided

in a tangible way. In the words of Rev. Khen, the

center’s director, “Safe drinking water is an

everyday basic need, so our readily available

water is an asset to the community.”

With Gratitude Compassion believes that God’s purposes on

earth are accomplished through the church —

including His purpose of bringing justice and

mercy to the poor and oppressed. Your

investment in the children of eastern India is now

a significant part of their story and their release

from poverty.

Thank you, Paramount Baptist Church, for

generously reaching out to India’s children. May

you, like the 235 children at the EI720 child

development center, live with increased hope

because of the powerful work God is

accomplishing through your gift.