BGMC helps provide fresh water in Africa
Villagers receive Buddy Buckets to help transport clean
water from the Africa Oasis Project well to their homes.
By Marshall Bruner
BGMC funds recently helped AG missionaries place two deep water wells in Togo and Benin. The funds also provided hundreds of Buddy Buckets to African villagers in Zimbabwe, so they could take home clean, fresh water.
BGMC provided funds through AGWM to missionaries Steve and Glenda Evans and Mark and Vickie Alexander for the Africa Oasis Project. The funds enabled the missionaries to purchase two well-drilling rigs and two deep wells and water containment systems.
“The need for clean, safe water in Africa is overwhelming,” says Steve Evans, missionary with AGWM’s Africa Oasis Project. “Over 300 million people in that continent don’t have access to clean drinking water.”
District leaders in Louisiana and Peninsular Florida worked diligently to raise BGMC funds to dig the wells in Lome, Togo, and in Dassa-Zoume, Benin. The Louisiana District generated the needed funds for the well in Togo while the Pen-Florida District raised funds for the one in Benin.
Hutson Goza, district Christian Education director for Louisiana, recalls how $30,000 was pledged during a BGMC district luncheon. After Goza showed an Africa Oasis Project video, one pastor felt led of God to challenge the other pastors to give to the project. “From across the room pledges started coming in from $1,000 to $2,000 each,” said Goza. “We raised $30,000 in pledges for BGMC for this project. Praise the Lord!”
Because of the lack of clean water in many parts of Africa, the Evans and Alexanders have had the opportunity to dig wells next to churches and at Bible schools. This provides pastors and Bible school leaders the opportunity to offer the Living Water, Jesus Christ, to the Africans who come to the wells to get clean water.
Mark Alexander shared a miracle story of how the funds provided by BGMC made it possible to dig a well where local city officials in Benin thought was impossible. The miracle took place at the Institut Biblique in Dassa-Zoume.
“As the FORAGE MOBIL drilling company was sinking the well, they came to good water at 55 meters (about 180 feet),” says Alexander. “They tested the water rate at about 2,000 liters per hour.
“The director of FORAGE MOBIL went to the director of the water department for the town of Dassa-Zoume and reported the results. The city water director said that was impossible because the city had done three geophysical surveys and had drilled three deep wells that were all dry. So the company man brought the city water director out to see the well, and he was amazed…. It is truly a God thing.”
In addition to the lack of clean water, villagers must often use contaminated buckets and bottles to collect and transport water by foot. BGMC provided funds to purchase hundreds of buckets with lids so villagers could have both clean water and clean containers to gather and store water.
The Africa Oasis Project wells and the two drilling rigs provided by BGMC were made possible through the efforts of many district leaders and contributions provided by churches across the U.S. BGMC thanks the Evanses and the Alexanders for the opportunity to partner with Africa’s Oasis Project to help with this vital ministry.