DCCW International Affairs Commission

by Judy Hoffer

Water, living water: We live with an abundance of water everywhere - from kitchen, bathroom, outdoor faucets, in homes, businesses, to water faucets in our parks. Plentiful, abundant, taken for granted, wasted. In the United States, life without water at our fingertips is almost unthinkable.

It is the largest, most fundamental resource God gives us. The power of water is limitless. Without question, it is as humble as Christ himself - content to find the lowest place to rest.

Yet in much of the world, when one is thirsty, there is no faucet to turn on, no well outside, no water for miles.

In some third world countries, girls are kept out of school because a good share of their day is spent carrying water for their families. Mothers don’t have time to tend to their children because of many hours spent collecting the day’s water supply. Women and young girls might start their day at 4:00 a.m. and walk 5-7 miles to find water, fill heavy pails, hang them from yokes around their necks, and carry the day’s water back the 6 miles to their home. Often the water is polluted with animal waste and disease, causing illness and death - children the primary victims.

This year the New Ulm Council of Catholic Women International Concerns special project is to provide funds for the "Water For Life" project to establish safe drinking water systems, which are essential for basic health, child survival, and a chance for a productive life.

The "Water For Life" program, carried out through the Catholic Relief Services and National Council of Catholic Women programs, provides under-developed communities with resources to build water systems. This may be in the form of constructing portable water systems and latrines or they may build water catchment tanks, 9’x6’, which catch water from a pipe on the home’s tin roof, which flows into the tank, providing drinking water for a family for up to 6 months. When these people have access to sources of clean, healthy, life-sustaining water, their lives are literally changed. Mothers have more time to tend to their families and practice a trade to bring home income. Young girls now have the opportunity to attend school.

Most of all, we acknowledge the dignity and sacredness of the human person and the moral responsibility to those in need and suffering.

DCCW International Affairs Commission has as its AIM to awaken in all Christians a realization and conviction of their responsibility for international peace, and to create, through this conviction, a brotherhood of all peoples.

Judy Hoffer is the New Ulm Council of Catholic Women International Concerns Commission Coordinator.