As you know, water is a crucial part of life. We depend on it in so many ways. For our friends in the Ga’dang tribe, this is even more so the case.
Over the last 6 months we have been effected greatly by El Nino here in the Philippines, and our tribal area is no exception. Because of the lack of rain, many of the Ga’dang people were unable to plant their corn crops in January. Those who did suffered significant crop and financial loss. Fortunately, many of them were able to go out into the jungle and gather wild coffee and bananas to sell in town and therefore supplement their incomes.
By the time we left the tribe in March to come to Manila to await Jenna’s arrival, the wells in our village were producing very little water and the river was extremely low.
On the bright side, having it so dry made the road into our village passable, and we were able to have jeeps bring in supplies for us, our house and also bring our visitors in and out who came to help on the house. It also was a blessing for us as Shannon did not have to hike out of the village at 33 weeks pregnant.
I have returned to the tribe twice now in the last month. The first time, a friend and I went in, just overnight to assess the situation and see if there has been any relief. Unfortunately the situation had gone from bad to worse in most respects. All the wells except one had completely dried up and the river had also stopped running. As I talked with the villagers, they expressed their concerns to me about needing at least 5 straight days of rain in order to be able to plant corn and rice in June.
I returned again to the tribe two weeks ago, where I stayed to continue working on our house and do some investigating about how we could improve the water situation. Prior to my return this last time, it had rained significantly on 2 separate days, and so the wells were starting to give limited amounts of water, and the river had started flowing again just a little.
By the end of the week when I left though, we had no more rain and the water supply dissipated and the river once again stopped running. I will be returning again this coming week, and hopefully it has rained in my absence. El Nino is finally ending and a weather system containing lots of rain is currently passing over the north end of Luzon.
With the rain returning, so does all the mud. That means we’re back to hiking into the village until the helicopter is here. As I think about it though, that’s quite okay. I’ll take the mud and the wet. It means our tribal friends will once again be able to function normally, being able to plant their crops, and have water to drink and clean, etc.
It also helps put things into perspective for me too, as we also see the need for spiritual living water in the lives of the Ga’dang people. It reminds me of the the story of the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well in John 4, to whom He offered living water. Already we can see how dry and thirsty the Ga’dang people are as they attempt to satisfy that ‘thirst’ that comes from not knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. Their religion is only leaving them searching and unsatisfied. Please pray for the Ga’dang people as they wait for us to be ready to tell them the Good News and satisfy their thirsty souls.
By Chuck