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Mission Society missionary Mary Kay Jackson is a civil engineer who serves with Methodist Development Relief Services and Pure Home Water, two charitable organizations that focus on bringing safe drinking water to the rural poor in Ghana. Her development work provides opportunities for building relationships in these communities, as well as opportunities to share the Living Water of Jesus.

Mary Kay recently teamed up with Jason VonBehren, an independent missionary serving in Tamale, Ghana, to bring clean water to the Buiyilli village for the first time in its history.

Jason has served in Buiyilli for the last six months, planting a church there. He has seen firsthand the need for safe water and recently began working to bring clean water to the village. Mary Kay traveled with Jason to Buiyilli to meet with the local chief and assess the possibility of getting safe drinking water to their village.

The people in Buiyilli have access to a small “dugout” pond that fills during the rainy season and serves as their water supply for the rest of the year. They drink this water, use it for bathing and washing clothes, as well as share it with their livestock. Groundwater is not available in the area where Buiyilli is, so digging a well is not a viable solution to the village’s problem.  Mary Kay and Jason have proposed providing ceramic pot water filters to the village and distributing one to each household. These filters can remove the bacteria and other pollutants in the water which are the causes of waterborne illnesses, such as diarrhea and typhoid, in the village.

The chief responded by saying that they had prayed many times to Allah and their local gods, using juju or black magic to try and get clean water to their village. He said, “Now, you have brought your God, and we will have clean water.” Mary Kay and Jason then told the people gathered that Christ loved them and had not forgotten them and their need for water.

Mary Kay and Jason will deliver the filters with a team of people who will install them, as well as teach the villagers how to use and clean them. Each filter costs $30, and 100 filters are needed in this village. A filter produces 10 liters of clean water each time it is filled, and can produce as much as 100 liters of water each day if kept full.

To help provide clean water to Buiyilli, please consider making a donation to Project #620.