Water Impact

This breaks our hearts as it must break God’s.

 

We can change this, but it isn’t easy.
Changing the world is hard. Let’s get to work. 

TBM Water is using four approaches to address this crisis:

1 - Drilling water wells

The water people desperately need often is right below them. By partnering with TBM Water Impact, you are helping people get the water they desperately need by drilling wells in villages around the world to provide clean, reliable and accessible water.

Our water well drilling process is simple, proven and easily replicated by local residents. We secure the necessary drilling equipment for each village we serve and teach a church how to drill and maintain a well. We then assist them in drilling another and then we supervise them drilling yet another. Then, we leave the equipment so that church now has a ministry of providing water to neighboring villages.

It’s empowering the local church to further their work, sharing about the living water that is Christ while providing physical water to nourish people’s lives.

2 - Repairing water wells

Throughout TBM's travels, we have discovered many pre-exisiting wells that aren't being used. In fact, 30% of all wells in Africa are broken.

When they break, local residents walk away and return to previous water sources, which are often remote and unsanitary. Our goal is to train local residents how to evaluate the broken well and determine if it is worth repairing. If a well is deemed salvageable, teams are taught how to restore it for use. This allows existing wells to once again be utilized and locals have the ability and skills for these repairs.

3 - Providing water filtration

The TBM water purification team builds simple, effective systems to meet the specific needs of an area.

We are proud that our systems and filters are made in the U.S. and have been confirmed by a Food and Drug Administration-registered lab to remove harmful bacteria and reduce viruses.

A Bucket Gravity Drip System is made from plastic buckets and is ideal for small families or areas where there is no electricity. It includes a simple drip filter, pre-filter and spigot. Simple construction techniques make this system easy to build and maintain. A 4-by-4 inch ceramic filter containing silver-impregnated activated carbon is placed between the plastic buckets. Water is filtered as it flows from the top bucket to the bottom.

Small, suitcase-sized units are used in areas where electricity is available. These are typically used at disaster scenes to provide clean water for kitchens, laundry and showers. Multiple stages of filtration screen out contaminants as small as 1/2 micron, which is 1/100 of the diameter of a human hair. Improvements to the design enables the unit to put out six gallons of filtered water every minute.

4 - Supporting health and hygiene

It’s not enough to provide clean water; we make sure the water remains clean for all to use.

Unknowingly, the people we serve often contaminate the water as soon as it leaves the well, causing illnesses that could have been prevented. By partnering with TBM, we seek to lovingly provide the knowledge and tools to begin the process of mindful hygiene.

Correct hand washing, for example, reduces diarrhea deaths by 44 percent. Something as simple as hand washing is a foundational step in saving lives from numerous avoidable illnesses.

While this knowledge is second nature to many, it isn’t in other places around the globe where knowledge of germs is limited. Through hands-on classes that incorporate the gospel and cover basic, practical and doable lessons where discussion is incorporated, individuals discover ways they and their families can be healthier.

TBM classes teach:

  • The importance of clean water
  • Germs: What they are, where they are, how they are spread and how to block them from spreading hand washing
  • Nutrition
  • Oral rehydration therapy
  • Oral hygiene
  • Spiritual applications

Soap Ministry

TBM Water, in partnership with E4712 Artisan Soaps. is also teaching women how to make and sell utility and boutique soaps. A bar of soap is a simple tool. But, in the right hands, it can change entire families, even entire communities. This ministry is helping provide a path out of poverty. 

With your support, TBM educates women on how to use local, renewable sources to create inexpensive, yet effective, bars of soap to help maintain basic health and sanitation while also providing a source of income. Empowering women, TBM lays the groundwork for them to become self-sufficient as small business owners to better support themselves as well as their families.

TBM and E4712 Artisan Soaps train women on the basics of soap making, entrepreneurship and business strategies. We teach how to make inexpensive “utility bars” for basic daily use. Then we also train them how to make “boutique” quality bars, which are scented, colorized and attractively packaged to sell in local markets. Selling just one boutique style bar can pay for supplies to make almost 10 utility bars.

TBM sponsors the projects and mentors the ladies as they begin to sell soaps and grow their small businesses. All equipment and materials are left on site for the group to continue making soap using the funds from each boutique style bar they sell.

TBM Water is also pursuing spiritual impact through:

• Discipleship training
• Sports camps
• Church starts
• Children's ministry
• Pastor training
• Preaching & personal evangelism

 

 

Pray. Go. Give.

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TBM-drilled water well creates beacon of Christ’s love in Uganda refugee camp

For years, TBM Water leaders have said, "We don't turn down opportunities to serve just because they're difficult." They go where God calls them to serve.

 

So when a TBM Water team serving in the Tika refugee camp in Uganda encountered layer upon layer of clay, the volunteers pushed forward. When they didn't immediately find water as quickly as they hoped, they drilled deeper. They followed the Lord's leading. 100 feet. 150 feet. 200 feet. 250 feet. 281 feet.

 

Finally, water. Clean, clear, life-changing water flowing at a rate unseen in the area up to that point.

 

The well is the first drilled by TBM in the refugee camp, a literal spring of hope in a region where tensions between Ugandans and refugees often run high and water is scarce. Last year, Ugandans and refugees fought over access to water here. Eleven people died in the skirmish.

 

“This will provide a more robust source of water for the community,” said Tim Wint, the lead driller on the trip. “When we started out, the wells that were in this general area were rated for 500 people. There’s more than 2,000 people in just this little area. The entire camp is home to more than 120,000 people.”

 

God willing, this well is the first of many in conjunction with Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board personnel in the area.

 

“Supported by your prayers, the TBM team gave this community access to clean drinking water,” said DeeDee Wint, vice president of TBM Water. “They also started training Ugandan and Sudanese leaders in water well drilling techniques. Soon, locals will be able to drill wells on their own with TBM equipment that remains in the area. Prayerfully, we hope clean water will become easily accessible across the camp.

 

“Just as importantly, the first well was drilled at a Christian community center. Water will help draw people to it, empowering leaders to share the Gospel and counsel the many people who have suffered trauma after trauma.”

 

The TBM mission team worked 12 hours a day, wrapping up after the sun set. The labor-intensive work is worth it, according to Dane Broussard, a member of the TBM team.

 

“I can’t think of anything more overall impactful to an individual and/or community than clean water,” he said. “Of all the worries the refugees must have, I hope we can alleviate a major one by providing them with clean drinking water and in doing so open their hearts to the light of Jesus Christ.”

TBM Water efforts to provide clean drinking water are made possible by prayer and financial support from people like you.

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Another team member, Mark Vera, said he’s seen the impact a water well can have on a community, and prays this has a similar impact.

 

“I have been going on mission trips for years now and have seen and know the importance as well as life-changing effects that readily available clean water can have on a community,” he said. “I believe that the TBM Water ministry couples this with a local faith-based ministry so the people receive physical and living water. I am thankful that I am able to be involved in this ministry.”

 

After drilling a record 17 wells in 2020 despite travel restrictions, TBM Water is poised to transform lives in 2021 by training and empowering local believers.

 

“We now have several groups working around the world: Peru, Papua New Guinea and here in Uganda,” DeeDee Wint said. “We also have multiple teams of Texans that are taking large steps toward serving on their own. We are multiplying God’s kingdom around the world.”