Sharing life–saving expertise with the Chaco
Clean and safe drinking water is something we tend to take for granted in the UK but that’s not the case in many parts of the world.
This year, Alison Orr, a hydrogeologist from Dublin went to Salta in Northern Argentina for two weeks to work alongside Andrew Leake and support his ministry in the Chaco region.
The people of the Chaco collect their drinking water from the summer rains which also fill lagoons where their goats and cows drink. When the lagoons dry up in late winter/early spring the people rely on groundwater to water their animals, and therefore groundwater is essential for the livelihood of the people.
However there is a problem with high levels of salt in the water and some wells have been known to make the people sick when used for drinking water. We took water samples from the wells and sent them for analysis in Salta.
It was encouraging that the lab showed real interest in getting involved and potentially sending someone to the Chaco to explain the results. Many of the wells are poorly protected and the results showed levels of potentially harmful bacteria from animal and human waste.
It was a privilege to be able to use my skills to give advice to the people of the Chaco on measures to put in place to protect their wells. God was faithful in providing the resources we needed, because early on we ran into problems and thought that it was not going to be possible to run any analysis.
This article first appeared in Buena Vista Summer Edition 2016.
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Through SAMS UK & Ireland, Down and Dromore is linked with the Diocese of Northern Argentina and suffragan Bishop, Nick Drayson.
In 2014 a small team including Bishop Harold and his wife Liz, visited the diocese bringing ministry and encouragement to the church there. Part of their time was spent in the Chaco where the people face many challenges.