India

Meet Wang Jia-Chi

Water renews life

In the Gulin region of China, the Miao people have lived on an isolated mountainside for centuries. This isolation has prevented them from access to some basic needs – such as water.

Wang Jia-chi (pictured) is one community leader. He explains that although water is often abundant in mountain communities, it isn’t always accessible. The people in the village have to haul the water by hand, often for miles.

All that recently changed. Through our global companion relationships and the funding of ELCA World Hunger, renewed life – water – was brought to the Miao people.

“It gave us hope to have the ELCA work with us,” Wang says.

The system is simple but the impact is great. A pond was dug at a spring. A pump was installed to get the water uphill to then be stored in holding tanks. From there, gravity takes the water to each home.

And the water does more than quench thirst. Another community leader, Yan Yi-you, says, “We can now drink fresh water [from our homes], provide for the goats and cows and plant our crops without worry of drought. Before it was a very hard life; now we can easily do things.”

Your gifts to ELCA World Hunger have helped bring water to families in this community. Wang expresses his appreciation, “Because I’m a man, I don’t always have tears. But I don’t have enough words to say thank you!”

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_{Photo credit: Y. Franklin Ishida/ELCA}