Author: Moses

Refleciones de Moises; Journies to Africa

Refleciones de Moises
Journey to Africa
May 2019

Today, we started another amazing journey to Africa! Nathan Dunahee and Mike Kristancic and I started our leg of travel: Seattle. Our flight leaves for Dubai in 4 hours: Ojala! Many orphans are waiting for, hoping for, and praying for Clean Ozonated Water.

Day 1: We are almost done with second flight; 7,065 miles, 563 mph. We land in Dubai in 1 hour. Spent a fair amount of that time strategizing with Nathan Dunahee (Agape Pamoja) about future plans in the Mwanza Area of Tanzania; Strategic Relationships, African Culture, Expectations, Relationships, Resources, and our Partnership. Agape Pamoja has an abundance of young and very talented friends who will prove invaluable to our efforts to bring Pure Cl     ean Ozonated Water to our new friends in Kenya and Tanzania.

Day 2: Last night, we completed the second 13.5 hour leg of our flight to Dubai, UAE. We arrived in time for a tour of the world’s tallest building, world’s tallest hotel, and UAE largest mosque. Lamborghinis, Jaguars, Bentley’s, Rolls Royce…. This is the World of Flesh. Stark contrast to our destination. Tomorrow, we start the last of 3 legs to Dar es Salaam. Our friends are waiting and praying for us.

Day 3: We have arrived in Zinga. It is raining cats and dogs! Got the grand tour of this incredible hospital first thing where the NICU and Birthing center will soon be complete. The water system is working great. 16,777 gallons on the water meter, or about 150 – 5 gallons per month. System ozonating and everyone loves the water! Sele gets back tonight from Arusha for more training!

Day four: Woke up at dawn to the sounds, barks, yells, and calls of African wild animals and birds (and more rain). Wow! What has God created here? We also woke up to a complete Power Loss. Today, I am doing training with four new operators on the water system, changing filters, shocking the system, and stocking up on water bottle caps and seals. Sele got back last night at 7:00 PM and left for Dar es Salaam. I guess we will go with the flow.

Day 5: Today we started training four new operators at the IHP Hospital in Zinga, Tanzania. They were like kids in a candy store: eager to learn, lots of questions! Changed the filters, shocked the system, and made a list of needed parts. The flow meter had failed and we had forgotten to put a sight glass in their system. No problem, coming right up. Already bottling 140 bottles a month, and the birthing center and neo-natal care center hasn’t even opened yet. Had a great time visiting with friends. After training we talked to Selemani Shabani about an install at his 1,500 member Church!! Then, Nathan tried to spear some snakes with the Massai!

Day 6: After a full day of travel, we arrived in Wacharra, Kenya. So many needs! 40 bunk beds, 400 chickens, teacher salaries, food…. Bernard’s Vision Orphanage has a lot of needs and a lot of beauty at the same time. Everyone is SO nice! So glad to see us! The children are so beautiful. The children sang for us, orated poems for us, and danced for us. We have to fit “WATER” into our schedule someplace. Benard’s family welcomed us and we went right to work. Lots of mosquitos! And Highland Malaria!

Day 7: This day we signed a covenant with Benard Ondiek Orphanage, School, and Medical Center, to return next year to install a full Agua Viva Water Purification System! They are so happy! I am not quite sure how we are going to get it done, but God has blessed us and commanded us to help these people… and we shall! This will be our first install on n Kenya! Next thing, flat tire on the road!!

Day 8: After signing a covenant, we left the next morning for Tanzania. Our 5 hour journey, in a very crowded car, took 12 hours. The worst roads I have ever seen! It took almost two hours to get through the border.. very bad idea. We drove through the Serengeti, and it was very plain to see how desperate these people are for water. Women everywhere walking miles with 5 gallon open buckets of water in their head!

Day 9: I must say, it is a miracle that Mike Kristancic and Nathan Dunahee were able to accompany me to Africa. These guys are great servants of God. Mike (aka pointer) is patient and steady as a rock, a real man of God. Nathan (aka sniffer) is a motivator and adventurous, and water is his specialty. At this point in our trip it has become very apparent that each are contributing in there own God honored special way. It certainly has taken a village. Thank you Jesus, that you chosen these two men to accompany me to the wonderful world of Africa!

Day 10: Mwanza Tanzania. I was surprised how nice it was. Quite clean… Functioning… Busy… I immediately liked this place. Sele (our friend from Zinga) says “Can we stop by my property!” “You have property in Mwanza???” In fact, it is right on the way. Wow!! Two miracles in one day???

Day 11: Pay Dirt… We arrived in Mwanza and headed straight to the Free Methodist Church of Tanzania (FMCT) where the National Leader and Superintendent, the Reverend Mlongecha Yesse, greeted us and introduced us to their Mwanza Water Committee. They already had 6 appointments at various sites for our teams to visit! They need clean water in this community badly and they already have a well and a spacious room to put the Water System in. We got checked in to our Hotel Malaika and got ready for a full day of site visits and water testing. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. Our committee, Mbaja Wagome, Adam Prosper, Yusuph Sabato Emmanuel, Kashindi Charles Selemani (our new Chemist), and Sethi Mlenda Ualenga have provided a great service to aguavivinainternational.org by preparing the way and doing their homework. This has greatly increased our chances of working in Mwanza, Tanzania… these people are amazing!

Day 12: Our next visit was the African Inland Church (AIC) Igombe, established 1689. As God would have it, Benard Ondiek is a bishop of the AIC in Kenya. Over 1,000 children swamped us as we arrived. High fives and smiles everywhere as we were welcomed like heroes. After our speeches to the masses, they escorted us to Lake Victoria. These children drink untreated water directly from this lake. Of course we took a water sample. They scoop this water up into yellow cooking oil containers and carry it about 1/4 mile to the village. “Please install a purification system in our poor village!” The next hour we discussed and prayed about how we could accomplish that with Reverend Mashona!

Day 13: It was hard leaving Ngombe, but the next site also shows great promise! We arrived in Kayenza where we were greeted by another African Inland Church of 360 members. The Reverend Onesmo Mkama called a community meeting. This community of 6,000 indigenous Sukuma Tribesmen is right on Lake Victoria also. We are anxious to see the water test results. A few people mentioned excess fluoride in the water… I hope not. We can’t filtrate flouride. This is definitely a fishing village. They dry the little sardines right in the beach! How cool is that… uh, do NOT eat them!

Day 14: Leaving Kayenza, we drove two hours north to the Magu District. Another Africa Inland Church, we were welcomed by Evangelist John Enosh Malila and a host of villagers with water (don’t drink it) and white sweet potato (don’t eat it). These were the nicest people yet and most in need. This is a very remote but large village. In 10 seconds, Nathan had a baby sitting on his lap and a friend forever. Hey, let’s stop for a COKE!!

Day 15: The next village was also in the Magu area. This Church is a Shamah Church in the village of Mashineni. They have 130 members and the village is about 2 kilometers from a river called Semeyu. We met for quite some time and talked about possible ways Agua Viva could partner with this community.

Day 16: Our last site investigation was in Busisi. This small community already has a nice well… about 50 feet deep with a hand pump. The community leader met with us and we agreed to help them size an electric submersible pump. We had to take a ferry to cross the bay and we watched women (never men) scoop up 5 gallon jugs of water and start the 5 mile trek to their village… UP HILL.

Day 17: We finished all our site investigations… WOW! A lot to think about. We are so thankful for the Water Committee: Sethi, Mbaja, Adam, Kishindi, and Yusuph! They did such a great job, making us successful. And, the National Director Yessi never left our side. It didn’t take long for us to make our decision. We drafted a covenant to return next year to install a Water Purification System at the NYASAKA FREE METHODIST CHURCH MWANZA. We explained the program and the team all joyfully signed the covenant! We have a few issues to iron out but this Water Team is amazing, and with God’s help, they will be ready. Thank You, Jesus. Agua Viva will need to raise more money this year than ever before… Cause We Are Going Places!!!

Day 18: During this trip I personally counted 14 miracles. Things that literally had to be a result of the hands of the Almighty God. So many good things happened. We met so many good Christian Brothers and Sisters. Surely, God will continue to bless our efforts with these people! We will need to raise more money. We will face many challenges. It will not be comfortable. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10…. these trips will sure make a believer out of you!

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Nine: Great Need !!

This is the last day of the year, and your last chance to donate to Agua Viva in 2018.

After every installation, 18 in all, we have a community celebration. We invite the entire village and surrounding areas to come and tour the new water room and experience pure clean ozonated water. We have hundreds of adults and children attend our celebrations. We have a great time.

However, these celebrations are also very humbling. Such great need! So much poverty. So much sickness. We have lots of work to do. So much “irony”. How can these people suffer so much and have so much joy? Well, it is a great lesson of life…. A lesson we can all use.

As I participate in these celebrations, I become greatly committed to continuing this marvelous work. Agua Viva is making a difference. We are giving them exactly what they need. We are enabling them to dramatically improve their quality of life. When I go on follow-up trips years later and see our new friends distributing large quantities of Agua Viva water, I see this new purpose in their lives. These people are lifting themselves up.

Today is the last day of 2018. Our work is not finished. Please consider a year-end tax-deductible donation to Agua Viva.

You can easily make an online donation here.

I promise you that we will change people’s lives with your donation!

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Eight: Parasites

On my first trip to a third world country, I was shocked to see what a horrible impact “parasites” had on the quality of life in these poor and very poor communities. Although seldom lethal, the impact was devastating. First, many children were malnourished because the parasites (worms) would steal the nourishment from the food they were eating, and the parasites were attacking the lining in their stomachs and intestines so that they were unable to absorb essential nutrients. Second, because of severe diarrhea, the children were missing so much school they were unable to get a good education. Third, many of the adults and children had systemic infections of parasites “untreated” for so long that the parasites began to infiltrate other body areas (beyond the digestive system) where they were more difficult to treat and where they caused more complex problems. De-worming medicine is expensive and it is actually common for parasites to go untreated. And, beyond worms, other parasites also were common place with even more serious affects; like amoebas, protozoa’s, giardia, etc.

Fortunately, Agua Viva purified water removes ALL of these parasites from the water. Schools and communities see an immediate improvement in attendance. And, consequently, quality of life improves immediately (like two weeks). Now, contaminated drinking water is NOT the only source of parasites. Under-cooked food, living conditions, and “living in close proximity to farm animals” is also a significant source of parasite infections. But, we begin with pure clean ozonated drinking water and a good “dose” of health and hygiene education. By bringing clean drinking water to the community, we also raise awareness in the community to other ways to prevent “systemic parasite infections” through improved living habits.

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Seven: This is how we roll!

Honduras has provided a great opportunity for Agua Viva and our methods are clearly reflected in our brief history working there. Four years ago, I joined a medical and dental missions team working in Honduras from Church of the Resurrection. I agreed to work with the team provided they would graciously permit me to do a site investigation for Agua Viva during the week. They agreed. It was October 2016. During my weeklong mission in El Obraje (the first time I had been to Honduras), I worked alongside many doctors and dentists and witnessed firsthand the everyday challenges faced by these precious people: poverty, contaminated drinking water, parasites, and complete absence of infrastructure. During that week, as promised, they permitted me to do a site investigation to Quisgualagua, Honduras; a two hour journey by car. Quisgualagua eagerly signed a covenant and Agua Viva agreed to return the next year to provide our first installation in 2017.

The next year, 2017, as promised, Agua Viva returned with a group of volunteers and provided the most beautiful installation in a Methodist Church in Quisgualagua. During that week, a small team from the group went to three different sites and signed a covenant in El Obraje, Honduras, to do an installation in 2018.

The next year, May 2018, Agua Viva returned with a group of volunteers and provided another beautiful installation in another Methodist Church and School in El Obraje. During that week, a small team from the group went to three different sites and signed a covenant in Proyecto Manuelito Orphanage in Talanga, Honduras, to do an installation in 2019.

Now, Agua Viva is packing suitcases to return to Talanga, Honduras, in February 2019. The trip is full and, yes, we will be doing three site investigations, with plans to return in 2020 to do our fourth installation.

So, that is how we roll. During these four short years, we have amassed dozens (if not hundreds) of friends. We have a fantastic in-country coordinator. Our sites are MAKING WATER. Lots of it. And, Agua Viva is providing thousands of people pure clean ozonated drinking water, opportunities for women, and micro-businesses! It has been amazing to see how God has touched the precious lives of these poor indigenous communities.

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Six: What child is this?

Today is Christmas. I have been thinking about the old hymn written in 1580 by William Chatterton Dix, “What child is this?”. I remember entering a remote village, high on the Sierra Plains, for a site investigation for Agua Viva. Maybe, a city much like Bethlehem. A small young boy, perhaps five years old, ran up to me, a perfect stranger, a gringo no less, and grabbed my leg. He would not let go. I could feel his ribs through his shirt. I could feel his distended tummy against my thigh; surely suffering from untreated round worms. In his face, covered with chaffing, he held the perfect smile. What child is this? Could it be Jesus? Surely, this was the very face of Jesus. Perfect in every way yet born in a manger. Smiling on all humanity, often suffering, without any of the luxuries of life. A Christmas tree? Probably not. A nice house? Well, he lives in a sod house with a thatch roof and no electricity. But, smiling none-the-less. What child is this? He is our brother and our sister. He shares this world with you and I.

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Five; Ecuador

Recently, I posted a video from World Vision produced in Galte, Ecuador. Coincidently, these people are precisely the people we will be receiving pure clean ozonated water from Agua Viva in the spring of 2020. The community of Galte is at 13,000 feet elevation and they have 500 children in their public school with no clean drinking water; our highest installation.
Ecuador is our most marvelous country. Mountains, rain forests, cloud forests, high sierra, coastal plains, water falls, beautiful people, and alpacas! In August 2019, we will be installing in a university of Quechue Indians. They want us to teach THEM how to do installations. That is a novel idea. No problem. “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day….. teach a man to fish, feed him for a life time! “
Agua Viva volunteers are pioneers in Ecuador. Against all odds, we completed our first installation in 2012, and now we have eight installations. It has also been our most challenging country to work; more altitude, more travel, more costly, more everything. But, our work there is reflective of our goals, mission, and aspirations.
Please consider a year-end donation to Agua Viva. We promise to use your donation wisely! Just logon to: aguavivainternational.org.

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Four; Guatemala

Agua Viva first began working in Guatemala in 2007 and we have had more success in this country than any other.  We love Guatemala; the mountains, the lowlands, the Quiche Indians, all the people, and even the Quetzal (arguably, the most beautiful bird in the world).  God is working in this place.  Agua Viva has more friends in Guatemala and, not surprisingly, we have more opportunity.  Currently, we have four communities just WAITING for us to respond.  A school, a church, an orphanage, and a teeny tiny community called Chichipate.  They just want clean drinking water!  Yup, the same thing we sprinkle our grass with.  The same thing we fill our swimming pools with.

We are experiencing miracles in these areas.  God is blessing us and we are very excited to serve Him.  At Shadow of His Wings Orphanage they said, “Our children don’t get sick any more”.  At Marta y Maria’s Orphanage they said, “We have been praying for clean drinking water all week when two Gringos came knocking at our door”.  Agua Viva is making a difference.  Please consider a year-end tax-deductible contribution:  aguavivainternational.org.

Reflexiones de Moises; Blog Three; Kenya

Sometimes in life we learn about things so profound that we know instinctively that they are the Truth.  Have you ever experienced this?  Maybe when you heard a sermon, or read a book, or listened to a lecture in college or high school.   I have had many such experiences with Agua Viva.  One such experience was reading the book called Benard’s Vision.  This book described a family of refugees in Kenya running from persecutors.  It had to be true.  Nobody could make up a story like that.  I had the God honored experience of meeting the author of this book, Bernard Ondeik.  An amazing servant of God from Kenya.  Curt Mader, Justin Bothwell, and Jim Allen traveled to Kenya in 2017 to meet this amazing man.  Benard manages TWO orphanages in the Kisumu area.  Both orphanages have about 500 orphans;  no parents, no promise of life, and faced with the inevitable hardships of life in these rural areas; prostitution, child slavery, poverty, and disease.  It is hard to say “no” to a man like Benard.  We believe him.  It is the Truth.  And, we shall return.  In May 2019, we will return to Wacharra, Kenya, and Benard will construct a water room for us, and Agua Viva will install a water purification system for his (His) hospital.

Please join Agua Viva in our amazing journey of faith and servanthood.  Consider making a year-end contribution to Agua Viva!!! Just login to our website:  aguavivainternational.org.

Reflexiones de Moises; 2018 Blog Two: Tanzania

Today, I had the privilege of watching God in action “first hand”.  We have prayed, worried, hoped, dreamed, and doubted if we would be able to complete our work in the amazing country of Tanzania, Africa.  And, today, God has spoken, “Yes, you will return, and you will finish the work that God has created you to do”!

In a beautiful church of Congolese refugees, Bales Avenue Congolese Community Church, and partnering with the Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit, we were resolved today to return to this remarkable country to create an “anchor”, a home base, in Tanzania where we can serve poor indigenous families by bringing Pure Clean Ozonated drinking water.  Our next team:  Nathan Dunahee, Mike Kristancic, and Jim Allen will visit northern Tanzania around the Lake Victoria Rim to find a suitable installation in May 2019.  We are pioneers.  We will also be visiting an orphanage in Wacharra, Kenya, where we hope to sign a covenant.  Stay tuned for Blog Three.

Please consider a year-end tax deductible giving opportunity to Agua Viva International

Reflexiones de Moises; 2018 Blog One

Today, I am starting another series of Blogs called Reflexiones de Moises. As we prepare for the holiday season, with Christmas fast approaching, this is a great time for us to reflect upon where have been and where we are going.

To begin, we have much to be thankful for! We had a great Celebration 2018. A very large crowd showed up to provide encouragement and support. It was great to see so many service minded Christians with a heart for the disadvantaged people of the world. That made it all worth it. It certainly is a lot of work, but God did NOT say “It will be easy” and He certainly did not promise us “comfort”.

However, looking back at the 18 installations now complete and all of the 20,000 poor indigenous families receiving Agua Viva ozonated drinking water, it is SO worth it.  So many friends. So many children benefiting from our hard work. And, now, we have four new installations to do just in Guatemala and three signed covenants in Ecuador, Honduras, and a miriad of opportunity in Tanzania, Africa, and Cuba!

We have no intentions of turning back now. Our supporters have spoken and emphatically commanded us to “push on”. We needed that clarity. We needed that affirmation.

Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Stay tuned for 2018 Blog Two of Reflexiones de Moises!!