Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000082S
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00:00 (uplifting music)
00:22 - Hello and welcome to "Jesus For Asia NOW." 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and my husband, John, 00:26 is with me today for this story. 00:28 Hi, love. - Hi Darling, how are you? 00:30 - I'm doing fine. 00:32 Today we're talking about a country 00:34 that we never talked about before on the show. 00:35 - That's right, brand new country for us. 00:37 - And this is a really powerful story. 00:40 - Yes. - What are we talking about? 00:43 - Well we get to travel into Bangladesh 00:47 with some missionaries that we sponsored 00:50 from a different country. 00:52 They didn't come the U.S., we've been in India 00:55 since the beginning of the ministry, for over 15 years now, 00:58 and have never gone to Bangladesh, always wanted to. 01:02 We have some really good friends in the Philippines 01:05 and their friends had gone there. 01:07 They are nurses, and they've gone there 01:10 and done these health assessments and helping these villages 01:13 with their health needs. 01:15 While they were there they discovered a real need, 01:19 and that need is that they discovered these people 01:21 with skin diseases and other internal diseases 01:24 that they traced back to their water supply. 01:27 So they researched into a little bit of their water supply 01:30 and realized that this is the source of a lot of problems. 01:33 And so they asked about can they dig wells, 01:38 and they're like, "Yes." 01:39 So, how much does it cost? 01:41 It's super cheap! 01:43 And so we learned about this and say, 01:46 "We want to be involved with this. 01:48 "Our donors, our supporters have already donated funds 01:52 "for wells and we had some money 01:54 "that we could allocate towards digging wells." 01:58 So we sent them back from the Philippines back 02:01 to Bangladesh for a whole month 02:03 and they drilled 13 wells. - Wow! 02:06 And we've got a number of videos and so as we go through 02:10 this episode we'll learn a little more about the need, 02:13 and a little more about the need, and the help. 02:16 But why is clean water such a big deal? 02:20 Are there many places in the world 02:22 that don't have clean water, 02:23 don't have access to good water? 02:24 - Oh yeah, this is one of the basic needs 02:27 and I don't remember the numbers, 02:28 but there is almost a billion people in the world 02:32 that don't have access to clean water. 02:34 And that's a huge deal. 02:37 What's amazing about this particular kind 02:40 of project is it's so easy to fix. 02:42 It's so easy to drill a well and provide a clean water. 02:45 It's just a matter of getting out there 02:47 and finding where the need is 02:48 and then drilling a well there. 02:51 - Well let's show our first video now 'cause that talks 02:53 about the situation. - Okay. 02:56 (gentle music) 03:34 (gentle music) 04:10 (gentle music) 04:26 - We stay in Rotiga village, they have only one. 04:32 This family also use this well 04:36 and some people come here to use this water. 04:42 They also use this well for washing and cooking. 04:50 If we see this water, this color is not good 04:56 and have little iron and others. 05:01 The color not good. 05:04 You can see, the smell is not good. 05:09 Not clean water! 05:10 (gentle music) 06:18 (speaking foreign language) 06:26 - Precious children there at the end, aren't they? 06:27 They were throwing water at each other. 06:30 So cute! 06:31 - Let me ask you a question. 06:33 If I told you I was gonna take our dishes from lunch 06:36 and go down to that pond and wash the dishes there, 06:39 what would you tell me? 06:42 - Don't! - Probably just tell me 06:43 to stay down there the rest of our lives. 06:45 - Just become a frog! 06:47 (laughing) 06:48 It's really gross. 06:49 It's really, and to think about this was their only option. 06:53 'Cause they knew the well water that they had wasn't good. 06:57 And we'll be talking about that some more. 06:59 But that's the difference, 07:00 that was a shallow well that they had. 07:03 And then what we've dug for them now is much deeper. 07:06 Over twice as deep. - Yeah. 07:08 - In some cases, three times. 07:09 - Yeah, it's 150, 200 feet versus 40 or 50 feet. 07:16 And when they can only go down to 40 or 50 feet, 07:17 they run into arsenic and iron in the water. 07:20 It was hard to see when he cupped his hands like that, 07:23 but you could see little flecks in the water. 07:27 And this is what's causing the problems 07:29 with the people and their health. 07:32 - Right, so the next video shows some of the effects 07:35 of this contaminated water. - Correct. 07:38 (gentle music) 07:47 - I've been visiting different villages here in Bangladesh, 07:51 and most of the patients here 07:52 really have problems with skin diseases. 07:57 I noticed that eight out of 10 patients 08:00 really have this condition. 08:02 (gentle music) 08:16 I noticed scabies, ring worms, fungal infections, 08:20 and some lesions all over their body 08:23 and some in their private areas. 08:27 I think the factors that contributed 08:29 to these cases could be their water. 08:35 Because they have not safe water here, 08:38 it's really not clean. 08:40 (gentle music) 08:46 And they have problems with improper disposal of garbage. 08:53 The water problem here is really an all-pervading norm 08:57 and it has caused a lot of allergies 09:00 and also internal problems within them. 09:03 Most of them also have stomach pains, stomach problems, 09:07 and also it manifested externally. 09:10 They have pimples, acne, and also skin problems 09:14 all over their body. 09:15 (gentle music) 09:17 In order to have safe water here, it's really important 09:21 to have deep well, at least 150 feet deep. 09:27 And they do have their own wells here, but it's only, 09:31 roughly, 50 feet and that is considered 09:34 as contaminated water. 09:36 They cannot afford deep wells here, 09:40 it's quite expensive for them. 09:42 That's why they only settle with shallow wells. 09:47 Even if they have medicines, 09:49 but their water is still not clean, 09:51 it will still contribute to their illnesses. 09:56 So that is why I really praise God, 09:58 because Jesus For Asia sponsored the deep wells here 10:03 and I can see that people are so happy. 10:06 Some of them, it's their first time 10:09 to really taste clean water. 10:11 (gentle music) 10:23 - Wow. - Yeah. 10:24 - That's really sad that they had so many skin diseases 10:28 and you think about, like she said, internal things. 10:31 Like what is really going on inside their bodies 10:33 from drinking this water? 10:35 And swimming in it and bathing in it and all that stuff. 10:38 Washing dishes in it, cooking with it. 10:40 - Right. 10:41 - What is going on inside? 10:44 Because they have the choice between the contaminated well 10:48 and this pond that-- 10:51 - Is contaminated, it's unclean. 10:55 And washing their dishes in that pond, 10:59 as opposed to washing it in the well, 11:02 that well must be that bad for them to wash it in the pond. 11:05 The water from the well looks cleaner 11:07 but they're still washing in the pond. 11:11 - They know that it's causing sicknesses. 11:14 - Yeah, arsenic is not a pleasant-- 11:19 - No, thankfully it's trace amounts 11:21 or many would have died already. 11:22 - Yeah, but even trace amounts, it builds up over time. 11:25 - Right. 11:28 - But you could see our missionaries there working 11:32 with the people and assessing the people. 11:34 Really treated them with love and kindness 11:35 and you can see the look in the eyes of the people 11:38 that were receiving that attention 11:41 and how much they appreciated that. 11:43 They looked they were in pain having to deal 11:46 with these skin diseases and the other issues 11:49 that they're having to deal with. 11:51 It must be miserable. - Right. 11:54 So as you said earlier, we were able to dig 13 wells. 11:58 We're really thankful because that's 13 areas 12:00 that didn't have access to clean water before, they do now. 12:03 - And what that does is it gives a good will towards 12:07 our faith and opens doors to show people 12:12 that there's somebody that cares about them. 12:15 And they are more willing then to listen 12:17 to what we have to tell them. 12:18 - Right, which is wonderful. - Yes. 12:21 - Now this next video is a video of them cleaning fish 12:26 and this at one of the new wells. 12:28 So I can't imagine doing this in a place where there was 12:32 so much dirt and gravel in the first place. 12:35 All right, let's play that now. 12:41 (metal pans scraping) 12:52 (water splashing) (metal pans clanging) 12:58 This is how they clean their fish. 13:00 Since they don't have a refrigerator, they buy small fish 13:03 and then free them in the pond and then when they're hungry, 13:06 they go catch them with their nets and eat them. 13:10 (gentle scraping) 13:21 (water splashing) 13:26 - So they throw the fish in the pond? 13:30 That's their refrigerator? - Yep! 13:32 - A living preservative-- - Right! 13:34 That way they keep them and then they can get 13:37 them a few at a time. 13:38 - Oh okay, well that's pretty cool. 13:42 The topography of Bangladesh is unique 13:44 because it's just a big flat delta. 13:46 So the water doesn't move very fast. 13:48 A lot of water comes through, 13:50 it's the end of the river Ganges, 13:52 and so it's flat and it's waterlogged. 13:55 And so these ponds that you see, they're very stagnant. 13:59 That's one of the reasons why 14:00 you see all that green slime in there. 14:02 The water just doesn't move through. 14:04 It's not like living in the foothills of the Sierras 14:07 or something, where the water's 14:08 always flowing and everything is clean. 14:10 It's all stagnant. 14:11 But that's also one of the reason why you don't have 14:13 to go down very deep to find good water. 14:16 But if you go down a little ways, you find water 14:18 that hasn't been filtered by the dirt and the sand, 14:21 and that's why you get the contamination. 14:23 If you go down 150 feet then it's cleaner water. 14:26 - Okay, we've got another video that talks about that. 14:32 (pump handle creaking) (water splashing) 14:37 (gentle music) 14:56 (gentle music) 15:12 - As the waters looks clean, they think 15:16 that this water is clean and safer. 15:19 Most of the people use ponds for washing hands 15:23 and washing dresses and washing their dishes. 15:27 But they do not know the effect of this washing 15:34 because they are very laymen about health. 15:42 They think any well is good. 15:46 Even most of the people of this village, 15:50 they use the shallow well. 15:54 And very few have deep wells. 15:59 They think that as water comes from deeper in the earth, 16:07 and so is clean, whether it's shallow or deep. 16:13 - Maybe other villages, one village maybe use one deep well. 16:18 Rich family only use deep well, 16:20 and needy family use 50 or 60 feet deep wells. 16:27 These kinds of wells have arsenic problem. 16:34 And are having health problem 16:37 and this kind of problem with these type of people. 16:42 160 or 200 deep wells, cost approximately 20,000 taka, 16:50 or 230 U.S. dollar. 16:54 They have no deep wells, they cannot because it is costly. 17:00 Most of the people cannot afford it 17:04 as they are poor and needy people. 17:08 (gentle music) 17:21 - An expensive well is $230. - Right. 17:25 (laughing) 17:27 That shows the poverty that they are in right now. 17:31 - And you know, the cost of a well, 17:33 we talk about this one being cheap, 17:36 because in India some of them are a lot more expensive. 17:39 And so we just say, on average, how much does a well cost? 17:43 - The wells that we have drilled in India, 17:44 they are like $1,200. 17:46 Because they have to bring out the big truck 17:49 with the big well drilling apparatus, 17:51 they go down seven, eight, nine hundred feet deep. 17:55 And so they're quite expensive, like $1,200 dollars. 17:58 Whereas as the wells up there, we got a video showing how 18:02 they drill the wells, but it's all by hand. 18:04 No mechanical device, no truck, no gasoline machine. 18:11 - They use water and poles and cow dung and yeah. 18:15 But we'll have a video about that in few minutes. 18:19 This next video that we have, 18:21 talks about another area where 18:23 they discovered a need for a well. 18:25 - [John] Yes. 18:26 (gentle music) 18:35 - Hindu people burn dead body and now we have plan 18:39 to install a deep well with the support of you. 18:43 This deep well mainly used by the people, 18:46 those who come here for the purpose of burning dead body. 18:53 There are hundred of people will come 18:56 and when they come they need 18:57 to drink water during hot weather. 19:00 Also need to wash their hands as they touched the dead body. 19:06 One deep well, very necessary. 19:08 There is one local market, so local people come here 19:12 and they can also use this deep well. 19:15 We can see the wood that Hindu people burn the body. 19:20 And the body is automatically become like, 19:23 what is it, charcoal. 19:27 After that, they throw the ashes in the pond. 19:31 - [Interviewer] And so where do they wash their hands? 19:33 - Nowadays, currently, they are using this water 19:35 and as you can see, this water is not good. 19:38 Also dead body ashes would go there. 19:41 So you can see that this is not hygienic water. 19:44 (gentle music) 20:19 - They come to this area after someone dies 20:22 to burn the body. 20:24 And of course, while they are together, 20:26 they have a meal right after the burning is complete. 20:30 But the ashes from the person go into the pond 20:33 and then they wash their hands and they eat food 20:35 and then they wash their hands in the same pond. 20:39 So, they asked if they can drill a well there 20:43 to facilitate people having access to clean water when 20:46 they came to this area and so we were happy to provide that. 20:49 - And that's just done as a service, a kind service. 20:51 But they put a little marble stone there 20:53 with John 11:25 and 26. 20:56 Which is Jesus talking about being the resurrection. 21:00 - And the life, that's right. 21:01 - And in this next video we get to see how 21:04 they drill the well which is really amazing to me 21:07 because they use no electric drills, 21:08 no mechanically operated drills-- 21:11 - Can we just show them? - Sure. 21:13 - All right. 21:15 (gentle music) 21:31 (chisel thudding) (gentle music) 21:42 To prepare to drill, they create a miniature pond. 21:46 They put the 40 buckets of water into the pond... 21:51 and then they dig a small hole. 21:53 The water goes down into the hole 21:54 and is suctioned back up by the pipe 21:57 and goes back to the miniature pond again. 22:03 (water sloshing) 22:05 The tools they use to dig the well are 11 12 foot pipes. 22:10 They also use a four foot metal pipe 22:12 to mount the hand pump on once they're finished. 22:18 They haul 40 buckets of water 22:20 and use 20 kilos of cow manure. 22:25 (water sloshing) (gentle music) 22:32 (motor whirring) 22:36 (gentle music) 22:39 This process uses a lot of water. 22:43 It takes five to seven hours for them to drill the well. 22:46 It takes them eight hours to haul the water 22:49 to maintain the pond. 22:51 (gentle music) 23:01 They use the 20 kilos of cow manure 23:03 to make the water thicker so 23:05 they will use less water to drill. 23:08 They say it saves them 50% of the water if 23:11 they use cow manure. 23:12 (gentle music) 23:24 These wells create good will and open the door 23:28 for us to follow up with Bible studies, 23:31 Bible worker training, and schools. 23:34 (gentle music) 23:52 (water splashing) (gentle music) 24:12 - So it's really interesting. 24:14 It looks like they have this pond and they have 24:18 this little hole there they put the pipe in 24:20 and the water goes down into that hole. 24:22 And then they have somebody with a rope that lifts the pipe 24:26 and the rope is tied to a lever that they go like this. 24:32 So they have one guy-- - Pumping. 24:34 - Pulling the pipe up and another guy puts his hand on it 24:37 and when he pulls it up, it suctions the water down into 24:40 that hole and then he let's it off, like this, 24:44 and they drop it down and that water squirts out. 24:46 So it's like the water is doing the digging. 24:49 - The drilling, yeah. 24:50 - And so it couldn't be done if there was a lot of rocks, 24:55 obviously, in the ground. 24:56 But in this area there is no rocks, it's just all sediment 24:59 because it's all just one big delta. 25:01 Bangladesh is a big river delta. 25:04 So it's all filled with sediment and it's very soft dirt. 25:08 - Wow, and it's pretty amazing, that's pretty ingenious, 25:12 whoever came up with that idea. 25:15 I wonder if that's pretty similar to how they used 25:16 to drill wells in Bible times or they did it the other way 25:20 where they got inside and made it big enough 25:23 for a person to be inside. 25:24 - Well just recently I visited Jacobs Well in Israel 25:27 and yeah it was dug by hand and they didn't have PVC pipes 25:33 and steel pipes and-- - So they had to climb down 25:34 in it with a shovel of some kind. 25:37 - I love that other part where they 25:38 were putting the pipes together by melting 25:42 with wheat or some straw, they put it on fire 25:46 and they melted just a little bit the top 25:48 of the one PVC pipe and dropped the other PVC pipe 25:53 in it and then it shrunk up, so it was bonded. 25:56 - Yeah, plumbers here don't use that kind of tool. 25:59 - No. 26:00 (laughing) 26:01 It's pretty cool! - Yeah. 26:02 - And that keeps the cost down. 26:04 - Right and it's a smoother connection for them 26:07 to shove down further into the dirt. 26:09 - Right, can you imagine going down 150 feet like that. 26:13 - No! - You can see why 26:15 it takes so long. - Yeah, that's a lot of work. 26:17 - It's amazing it goes only in five or six hours. 26:20 150 feet in five or six hours. 26:23 It's a unique situation. 26:26 And there is a lot of need there. 26:28 - While our friends were there, 26:29 they discovered there's another need, and what is that? 26:32 - They discovered a number of churches 26:36 that have been closed. 26:37 They've been built, but the project 26:40 only lasted a little while to support the pastors, 26:43 Bible workers, to maintain those churches, 26:45 maintain services in those churches. 26:48 So after ten or 15 years, that program ended 26:52 and the churches still remained, 26:54 but there's no longer people coming to the churches, 26:57 no longer people worshiping in the churches. 27:00 We also discovered a school, a school building, 27:05 that's no longer in use. 27:07 - But that's the topic for the next episode 27:09 and we don't want to give that away. 27:10 So at this time I would like to thank you 27:13 for joining us today and for learning a little more 27:15 with us about the needs in Bangladesh. 27:18 There's a lot more villages that need clean water 27:21 from what we've been told. 27:23 I'm just so thankful we have been able 27:24 to do these 13 wells already. 27:26 I thank you to the donors that have given 27:30 for the Clean Water Project 27:32 so that we can offer these people clean water. 27:34 But you know what? 27:36 I just ask for your prayers 27:38 that we can offer them living water. 27:40 That they would come to know the God 27:42 that loves them so much and died for them. 27:46 If you'd like to get involved you can contact 27:48 us at Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221 Collegedale, TN 37315. 27:56 Call us at (423) 413-7321 28:01 or visit our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:04 May God richly bless you until 28:06 we see you next time on "Jesus for Asia NOW." 28:09 (uplifting music) |
Revised 2020-05-12