TBM provides pure water, living water in Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE—Texas Baptist Men disaster relief workers Dick Talley and Ron Mathis spent two weeks in Zimbabwe distributing 1,000 water filters in hope of sharing both clean water and “the living water.”

“We know that we cannot take care of the whole country,” said Talley, TBM state disaster relief director. “There are 56 churches there that are a part of the Zimbabwe Baptist Union, and they are partnered with the (neighboring) South African Baptist Union, and (they) invited us to come over and help.”

With the help of funds from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Texas Baptist Men donated barrel systems, ceramic drip filters, food and medicine to Zimbabwe Baptist churches.

“It’s an excellent tool for evangelism,” Talley said. “It’s our mission to equip churches around the world to meet the need for clean water and to share the gospel.”

The trip was a follow-up to the volunteers’ last mission to Zimbabwe in 2000, when the men first discovered their call to help meet the country’s need for clean water.

“We could have just shipped the filters over there,” Talley said, “But we wanted to stand behind them and to show we care … . Validating the work that people do does much more than we can ever imagine.”

Relentless rain continues to devastate Zimbabwe, contaminating the majority of its water supply. Due to the faulty infrastructure and a failing economy, cholera has spread from Harare, the capital, across the entire country.

“The city’s whole sewer system was over-burdened until the point that it broke, so you see open sewer systems flowing into gardens and trash that is not being picked up,” Talley said. “The people started getting sick because they were exposed to human waste. Because Harare is the central hub of Zimbabwe, people would come into contact with cholera and take the disease back to their village.”

Nearly 10 years ago, Texas Baptist Men, in partnership with a North Carolina disaster relief group, built two water filter systems for rural villages as distribution centers for mass populations. Airlines estimated the cost to fly the units to Mozambique would be $10,000, but Talley said he thought the volunteers could go to southern Africa and build them there for less.

“We flew into Johannesburg and bought kitchen equipment and food, built the units and transported them all for under $7,000,” Talley said.

“One filter was helicopter-dropped in, while the other was taken by trucks … to Harare.”

TBM’s goal is to educate and facilitate in God’s name.

“By equipping leaders, the (people) are going to see that the local church is there to help them, not just TBM,” Talley said. “This allows churches to help their own people.”

Ron Mathis, a Texas Baptist Men disaster relief volunteer, demonstrates the use of a water filter to a pastor from Mozambique who was visiting in Zimbabwe. (PHOTO/Courtesy of Dick Talley/TBM)

In spite of the language barrier, Talley and Mathis were able to train leaders in Africa how to use the equipment.

“I don’t speak Portuguese and they don’t speak English, but through an interpreter, I trained the director of the water department, and she then trained her men who ran the water purifiers,” Talley said:

“When we teach here in the United States, it’s an ordeal. It takes awhile to train our people, so it was a God thing that despite the language barrier, it only took one training for them to get it.”

TBM’s work in Zimbabwe is not done. The partnerships need nearly $10,000 to finish buying barrels and buckets for the remaining Baptist churches.

“We’ve already set up people to do the job,” Talley said. “ They just need the funds to complete it.”

During his recent trip, Talley discovered the water filters built in 2000 still were being used, and the people had built seven more. Mathis believes those units, along with the 1,000 filters they just delivered, have given the churches the “correct tools” to take care of at least 100,000 people.

“When you invest in water purification, it is not a one-time (gift); it keeps giving year after year,” Talley said. “We didn’t just give them clean water to drink; we taught them how to make clean water for themselves. And that was more beneficial.”

This distribution project was a part of TBM’s water ministry that began in 1994 as a way to bring potable water to areas devastated by natural disasters or poverty.

“We are helping the people as Jesus commands us to do, and at the same time, we have the opportunity to build a relationship and introduce them to Jesus,” said Mathis, a layman from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

“When Jesus walked into a village, he took care of their health needs first, and then their spiritual needs. That’s what we want to do. The work in Zimbabwe is a perfect example of what the water ministry is all about.”