For most of his adult life, 59-year-old Ly Sreng has struggled to accomplish even the most routine of tasks. Wounded and disabled as a soldier during Pol Pot’s regime, Ly has been forced to rely on a wheelchair for the past three decades. And not only that, he and his family struggle for survival in a poor village in Cambodia – which means their access to clean, safe drinking water has been severely limited.
Ly recently shared with Samaritan’s Purse, “It was very difficult to have access to water sources because they were far away. Besides this, the price to build a well was expensive, so I normally used my wheelchair to collect water from a pond which was 1 kilometer away from my house. (more…)
Samaritan’s Purse has a strong network of churches, schools, and community groups in the relief catchment areas through Operation Christmas Child. Initially we were asked by the Relief Centers of Whittlesea and Diamond Valley to help supply necessary recovery equipment to families who have lost their homes and belongings.
Since then we have entered a new phase of recovery where we are working with the Salvation Army and the local communities and mobilised volunteers to help rebuild essential fencing and help get communities back on their feet.
Since the earthquake on January 12th, your support – both through your gifts and prayers – has helped Samaritan’s Purse take on an extremely active and helpful role in the disaster relief efforts in Haiti. Here is a summary of how your support is making an impact in Haiti:
Emergency items/shelter:We have been able to distribute blankets, solar flashlights, hygiene kits, shelter kits, plastic for temporary shelter, water purification kits and jerry cans to around 300 families per day.
Water: Our teams have brought in 20 large community water filters, each capable of producing 10,000 gallons of clean drinking water each day.
Medical: We have flown in $130,000 in vaccines for tetanus and other diseases from the US, and we have supplied one of the mission hospitals in Haiti with clean water, fuel and medical supplies and set up a community water filter.
Sanitation: To improve sanitation, we have installed 55 bathing facilities, eight hand-washing stations, and 363 latrines.
Rubble cleanup & employment: To date, our team has removed more than 10,000 cubic meters of rubble and cleared five miles of road, six public buildings, three local businesses, and three churches.
Through this program, we have employed 386 Haitians, 42 percent of whom are women. Samaritan’s Purse has sent 185 staff members and non-medical volunteers to Haiti. We have also sent 90 medical staff members and volunteers, and 22 chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team have worked with our team on the ground.
Please continue to pray for the immediate and ongoing relief efforts as well as our long-term strategy for rebuilding communities in Haiti. Pray especially for the two Australians, Trevor Adams and Alistair Clelow who are both serving with the teams in the transitional relief phase.
When you buy the Turn on the Tap 750ml refillable stainless steel water bottle, you will always have water at hand and at least one person in South East Asia will get clean water for life as a result.
Each bottle purchased will give water to at least two people – you and the person that will receive safe water through Samaritan’s Purse projects that are funded through the sales of this bottle.
Did you miss the Seven Network Good Friday special called New Life: Three Stories of Hope? You can view it right here…
Christian Television Australia (CTA), in association with international aid agency Samaritan’s Purse Australia (SPA) presents Three stories of Hope and new life which was broadcast at 12 midday, on Good Friday 2010 on the Seven Network. (more…)
Pastor John lives in the remote village of Kalo in Central Province, PNG. In 2006, our local partner, Living Light Foursquare Church of Port Moresby took 200 Operation Christmas Child boxes and distributed them through Pastor John. News of the shoe boxes drew people in and excited children came from villages all around.
The Port Moresby church then helped the village build a church… and then they put in a water pump. This transformed life for the village in a whole new way. (more…)
As of World Water Day 2010 we have now raised over $540,000 for Turn On The Tap. This is enough to give 32,786 people access to safe drinking water. Thank you for helping us reach this goal!
1 in 8 people in the world still do not have access to safe water and that’s why Samaritan’s Purse has a goal to raise $500,000 for safe accessible water by World Water Day on March 22nd, 2010. The great news is that we have already received more than $300,000!
In 2009 this enabled us to install 1,561 BioSand Water Filters, dig 111 wells, install 2 water tanks and drill 8 bore holes. We also dug 2 ponds. With your help we were able to give 25,648 people water in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Liberia.
We are so excited at the prospects of being able to help even more people get access to safe water in 2010. Thank you for helping us as we work towards this goal.
It’s hard for us to imagine how it would be to not have safe accessible water. Sangseoun is 31 years old; he lives in Sdokprey village in Takeo province. He is married with three children. He has firsthand experience of this challenge…
“My village did not have clean water to use and so the people in the village had big problems. Many in the village were sick and we did not have water to drink. Before I was married for a time all the members in my family were sick and we did not have the money to pay for hospital fees and so they sold their rice fields. (more…)
Click to see how your gifts are changing lives around the world.
Operation Christmas Child
Many innocent children are caught in poverty and hostile environments, trying to survive while constantly at risk of being exploited. Samaritan’s Purse is there to offer compassion assistance and protection. (more…)
The street has been nicknamed Dark Street for many years. Lost in the slums of Papua New Guinea, locals knew Dark Street for its nightly gun battles between young people and the police. Mothers would lay awake listening and wondering if their older children would come home, and how many more minutes before the baby woke again from the noise.
Recently, Pastor Magi shared how for generations clans fought against other clans, passing on their hate for the individuals and families of the rival clans. The hate is so deep that the children grow up believing that if they talk to their enemy they could be killed themselves. (more…)
Who would of thought that Jack and Jill walking up a hill, could inspire a movement of children to fetch a pail for others.
Forget bringing in your latest action figurine, ten-year-old Cooper Winter’s class had their eyes opened when he decided to give Show and Tell with a twist. (more…)
This is one of the reasons why we are working hard to provide clean water to hundreds of needy communities around the world. Through Turn on the Tap we are intensifying our efforts to provide safe accessible water. A big thank you to each and every one of you who have already participated in the campaign.
I know you’ll join me in celebrating the fantastic news that 303,921 children in the Asia Pacific region have been given their very own Operation Christmas Child shoe box. – Read the full story
Logistically, so many things need to come together for this programto be a success. Every link in the chain is crucial. So thank you for everything you did to make this amazing project possible!
Turn on the Tap is a global campaign launched by Samaritan’s Purse to provide access to safe water for communities in Asia and Africa. The following story shows how Samaritans Purse water projects are transforming lives in Cambodia.
Mey Sen is a weary grandmother with deep wrinkles etched into her dark skin after years of gruelling work as a subsistence rice farmer. She provides for three grandchildren while their parents work in Phnom Penh and return only once a month to visit.
