Water is a fundamental aspect of life that we seldom contemplate. It's not just that we HAVE water, but we have hot water, cold water, and clean water at the turn of a handle. It is not something that we have to think about; it is not something that we run out of; for most of us it is a simple aspect of our lifestyle. Others in the world do not enjoy this privilege. Quite to the contrary, they cannot fathom the blessing of water at the turn of a faucet!

The Rabenolds work in a remote area of southwest Tanzania where people work hard for the little bit of water they have in their homes. The Rukwa Valley is a place that enjoys rain for only three months of the year and is very desert-like in most of its landscape. Water can be had, but only from rivers or a well. Sadly, the Rukwa region has no well drillers in it, and when they can be found, transport of their equipment from the bigger cities requires enormous amounts of money. This leaves the people in a hard situation. They are forced to walk with a bucket to the local "clean river" (not all of them are clean) to gather their water and carry it home on their heads. In some villages this walk is up to two hours one way! You can read about this, but it is hard to understand until you see it.

Most Tanzanians are farmers who live off the land with crops produced from the soil. Arable farmland is down in the valley, but clean rivers are flowing from mountain streams. By the time the water gets to the valley, it has been "dirtied" by herds of cattle, goats, and sheep, as well as people. The people would rather live by their crops and walk for their water. They need the water badly, but they need the farmland as well.

Since moving to the Valley in 2001, Ted has been asked by the local people to help them bring clean water from these rivers to their villages. He has agreed to help them, but his outlook on work in the Valley is to work together with the local people to bring about progress, not to simply do it for them. He may contribute a large amount to the project, but they must also contribute an amount similar in comparison to what they have. The effort is not to create a "welfare mentality." It is necessary for the people to take ownership. It is expected that the villages will help financially and with the unskilled labor of their water project.

Some villages have given property on which to build a church. Water is piped into a water tank on the church plot, but those projects are not expected to receive village financial help or labor. The water will primarily be used to irrigate the church plot with the idea of having the churches be an oasis in the middle of the villages. Since this is a semi-arid area, to have a church where trees are thriving and plants are growing during the rainy and dry season is a good testimony and glorifies the Lord. 

Meeting water and agricultural needs of the villages allows the people to see progress. When water begins pumping onto our church plots, we plant the plot full of high yield fruit trees which are new to the Rukwa Valley. Coconut, palm nut, citrus and avocado trees are all useful.

These programs have been very successful. The systems are gravity-fed pipelines. A dam is constructed on the rivers in the hills above the village, a reinforced collection tank is built, and water is piped from the tank to the villages or churches. After the initial set-up cost, water for irrigation and home use is continually gravity-fed to the villages.