Water Is Life

I recently had drawn to my attention the work of a charity called “Water Is Life”, which is working to address issues of illness caused by lack of clean water through the development and distribution of a filter straw through which one can drink safely. It seems to me a clever and helpful way of addressing this issue – in many ways simpler and perhaps even less expensive than establishing centralized water purification facilities and means of distribution. Obviously the latter are desirable in the long term, but this seems to me to be a brilliant and effective short-term solution to an urgent problem, which apparently affects even communities that have a source of clean water, when children drink from elsewhere.

I know there are some readers of this blog who are either in Africa or have African connections, and I’d value their input on this charity and its work. Are you familiar with it, and can you tell me and other readers more about it? I also am sure that readers of this blog who aren’t Christians, and perhaps even some Christians who aren’t Evangelical Christians, may have hesitations about or concerns regarding the close connection (which becomes clear in the videos) between the distribution of these straws and the spreading of the Gospel. And so from you too I’d appreciate feedback, since the organization seems to be doing something helpful to address an issue that costs millions of lives. And so I’m wondering, from your perspective, if the connection with spreading Christianity is something that is indifferent and wouldn’t stop you from supporting this charity, or is it something that would cause you to not do so? A third question, for Evangelical readers as well, is about the charity’s approach. They seem to omit reference to the evangelization aspect of their work on their web site and the video clips on it. Does this seem to you a fair way of raising a wider support for what seems to be first and foremost a humanitarian endeavor? Or ought the fact that the distribution of the filtering straws and the sharing of the Christian message go hand in hand ought to be acknowledged up front on the web site and in other presentations? Indeed, one more question: I initially assumed that the videos show this to be a Christian charity using humanitarian work to propagate the Gospel, but I suppose I should also consider the possibility that it is simply a charity that includes one or more Christians who, while involved in the charity’s activities, also talk about their faith. If the latter turned out the be the case with Water Is Life, would it change your view on any of the aforementioned questions?

Thank you in advance for your comments!