Recently, Back2Back India partnered with a Feeding Center to provide clean drinking water to poor children. The Feeding Center is run by a husband and wife who live near a slum in Hyderabad. During the day, some children attend school and receive a hot meal provided by the government. However, many of the children in the slum do not attend school during the day but instead work menial jobs or help care for younger children while their parents are working. So after they come home from their jobs, this couple opens their home to about 150 children to come have a meal and study.
Several days a week, the Feeding Center purchases drinking water pumped from large tanker trucks. They fill various vessels with the water and carry them from the street to the house.
When a group from our church visited the Feeding Center, they learned of the need for tanks to store the water in a clean and hygienic manner. Back2Back India committed to this project. The day we went to install the tanks, we had several construction challenges. The plan was to stack pre-made concrete rings together as a base for the water tanks. However, as the video demonstrates, the quality of the concrete was not very good.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4ltVaSCY4]
So, we went to plan B – cement blocks, arranged and mortared together. Our pastor, the director of the Feeding Center and several volunteers worked together to build the project. For several of the men, this was their first hands-on experience with a small construction project.
They caught on quickly and enjoyed working toward a goal. We worked hard all day, finishing by the light of cell phones. When we were done, there were two new water tanks and multiple faucets for the children to draw clean drinking water.
Shortly after the installation, we received this encouraging email message from the directors of the Feeding Center:
Dear sister and brother,
Greetings to you in the matchless name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. We appreciate your hard work and dedication in donating the water tanks to our children in the center. They are really very helpful to the children. We don’t have to carry drums of water everyday. A big thank you to both of you and may God bless you.
We were very much encouraged seeing you working and doing things on your own, putting in the tanks. After seeing you, we are trying to do small repairs in our home without anybody’s help.
We would like to send some pictures of our center. We have conducted competitions for children on Children’s Day on 14 November. We gave them certificates and medals for the winners. It was an exciting moment for the kids. We also had our Christmas eve on 22 December. We gave kids yummy plum cake and the children enjoyed Christmas meal.
Once again, we thank you both for all the support you have done to our feeding center
Thank you