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| Throwing
up his hands in frustration, gritting
his teeth, Daryl Oft cried out to God, “OK,
God, I’ll go wherever you want me to go.”... |
Daryl
and Mary Jo Oft at Lake Victoria
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One
trip to Kenya turned into many others, and Living
Waters International was born, with the Ofts in
the lead to bring first potable water and now food
to the people of the villages on Rusinga Island
in Lake Victoria in Kenya. “It was my understanding
that they had not had fresh water for more than
three years because the water system they had in
place was no longer functional—all of the
water technicians had died of AIDS,” says
Oft. “The population of Rusinga has a 42%
HIV/AIDS rate and an 80% orphan rate.”
Through a lot of
work, donated funds and volunteer effort, Oft and
a representative from Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA) were able to get a new water
system up and running. The community wanted to name
the water project after the Ofts and everyone who
had helped with the project, but Daryl convinced
them to name it Living Waters. That phase only provided
for a few villages, and so the Ofts continued to
work to bring more water to the region. |
In the last two
years, they have refurbished the water infrastructure,
including repairing the wind-operated water pumping
system and renching and laying over one-half mile
of galvanized 2-inch water line to bring water
directly into the village center. Four water tanks
were purchased and installed while other tanks
were refurbished, providing almost 13,000 gallons
of stored water capacity. Water valves were replaced
and a water intake system was designed, built
and installed to bring water directly out of Lake
Victoria.
But their work
is not done yet. As this piece is written, Daryl
is on his way to Kenya to begin building a feeding
center for the hundreds of orphans on the island.
“We weren’t planning to go back until
next February, but we got a sizable donation from
a donor who said, ‘Take this and go back
tomorrow,’” says Oft. “If we
wait until February, some of those children will
die. Now we’re providing 48 children one
meal a day, five days a week.” Once completed,
the center will provide two meals a day daily
to 200 children and approximately 15 widows who
are unable to care for themselves.
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Donations
and Correspondence can be sent to:
Living Waters
International
1107 S. Beeline Hwy #4
Payson, Arizona, 85541
Phone: (928) 472-3388
Fax (928) 472-4364
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