Karakalpakstan is an autonomous region of Uzbekistan that has been hit hard with an ecological disaster. During the Soviet era, water was redirected from the two main rivers (the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya) to irrigate the desert like land for cotton crops. In the 90s this led to a complete collapse of the Aral sea and the surrounding area that depended on the water from these rivers. The land left behind was also contaminated by saline which was a biproduct from the irrigation efforts. Today the water that flows into the public water system is undrinkable. This also means that the water in the schools is undrinkable. There is no refilling of big drinking jugs for children here. All water is bought in bottles from the store.

One of our partners in this region has gained permission to bring filtered water stations into the schools. They are preparing to equip two more schools with drinking water filtering stations. This involves drilling wells, installing pipes and filtering equipment and many other details. Not only does water in the schools allow the children to drink, it will also allow for basic sanitation education like the washing of hands. This service of providing water filtering stations also creates trust with the locals which also opens doors to share the love of Jesus. 

This Giving Tuesday, we would like to encourage you to give towards clean water in Karakalpakstan. A gift of $140 will go towards our goal of helping fund one drinking water station in a local school (approx $4200 CAD).