This post was written for global blog action day 2010 in the name of water.

Having spent three years as a missionary, I met colleagues who were laying down their lives to help people and colleagues who were basically ripping contributors off.  Throughout the years my favorite worldwide missionary organization has been World Vision. I’ve always been impressed with their integrity, faithfulness and well…with their well drilling.

Well drilling may not seem as glamorous as say, medical missions and orphanages, but anyone who has been in a third world country knows how precious and scarce clean water is. For example, several friends went on a short-term medical mission to an island off Haiti. There was a spring on this island and all the people and animals drank out of it. The animals urinated and defecated near the spring and this washed into the drinking water every time it rained.

Just as the medical mission team was leaving, a World Vision team was arriving to drill a well for the people. The son of one of my best friends recently took a two-year sabbatical from engineering school to go drill wells for World Vision in Uganda. Missionary work is work, not high adventure in exotic locations, and drilling wells is very hard work. But what a difference this makes to an entire village. As someone I know in the Peace Corps said, “I may not be a biologist, but I know drinking water isn’t supposed to be brown.”

Hats off to World Vision and all the missionaries who sweat and swat insects all day in order to bring clean water to people they will never see again.

Link for World Vision  http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/mag-summer2007-water-wafrica