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07458 July 26, 2007
Living Waters' ministry of facilitating the flow of clean water worldwide promoted on YouTube
Effort one of several designed to raise awareness of the organization
by Toya Richards Hill Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - A Presbyterian ministry that helps provide clean water to places in the world that need it most has tapped the ultra-popular video Web site YouTube.com to increase the flow of its message.
Living Waters for the World (LWW), a ministry of the Synod of Living Waters of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) based in Franklin, TN, has posted a video on the site that explains the work it does and encourages others to join the effort.
Those who visit the YouTube site will hear LWW administrator Steve Young talk about the world's critical situation involving clean water, and how the LWW "trains and equips mission teams to share the gift of clean water with communities in need."
"The world's water crisis is massive. Half the world's population lacks access to something you and I take for granted every day - clean water," Young said as he stood in a community helped via LWW near Campeche, Mexico. "And as a result, millions die each year from preventable water-related illness, and most are children."
"We invite you and your fellow team leaders to join us at Clean Water U, our training program, where you will learn how to build strong partnerships with those who need clean water, how to lead health and hygiene instruction and how to install, operate and maintain a water purification system," he said.
Added on June 23 to YouTube, the site that enables the average Joe to showcase videos of just about anything, the LWW video had already been viewed 2,042 times by July 25. Thirty-five people also had posted comments about the video and LWW.
"It's what people are saying beneath the video, that's what has been so exciting," Young said.
The YouTube video, also available for churches and civic organizations to run as public service announcements in their local broadcast markets, is part of a number of things LWW is doing to spread the organization's message to a broad audience.
LWW, a 2007 grant recipient from Presbyterian Women's Birthday Offering, also has produced a new film, Clean Water for All God's Children, which can be viewed from the LWW Web site.
And, it has been asked to be included as a resource in the PC(USA)'s We Believe curriculum for elementary children and has been selected as the mission project of the denomination's 2008 Vacation Bible School curriculum.
All of LWW's efforts, said Young, are aimed at the goal of training more people so they, in turn, can train communities to establish their own clean water systems. The more people trained, "the more clean water flows in the world," he said.
Through Clean Water U, located at St. Andrew Presbytery's Hopewell Camp and Conference Center outside Oxford, MS, team leaders from churches and civic organizations get instruction on water system installation; health, hygiene and spiritual education as well as partnership development, water testing and field surveying.
Those team leaders then go home and join with others from their congregations or organizations to develop a three-year covenant relationship with an institution located where the water system is needed. The church's or organization's team then trains the local group, which could by anything from a church to a school, to build and maintain a water treatment system.
LWW isn't teaching people to go and give clean water to people who need it, "but to partner with people in the community so that they can go give people clean water," Young said.
To date LWW, virtually an all-volunteer organization, has helped facilitate 135 installations in 17 countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Ghana and India. The goal for the community is "to have an immediate impact on their health," Young said.
An impact is also felt by those trained at Clean Water U once the partnerships take hold, Young said.
When you become friends and "spiritually bonded ... it changes you, and it really, really brings the Christian message home in your heart," he said. "These folks come back and they share that transformative experience."
Since 2004, LWW has trained a diverse population, including teams from nine Protestant denominations, the Roman Catholic Church and Rotary International. The next sessions offered at Clean Water U are Sept 12-16 and Oct. 17-21.
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