Forty Thousand Raised, Countless Lives Changed
All the way across the globe, at Kuguyi Primary School in Kenya, thousands of children are smiling and celebrating an answered prayer. They finally have access to clean drinking water. On February 1st, Hydrating Humanity announced the successful completion of the first well dug at this school. The name of the well? Cageless Birds 1. Here’s the story:
Back in December, our whole community headed out to Awake Church in Winston Salem for a night of worship to benefit Hydrating Humanity: an amazing nonprofit dedicated to providing clean drinking water and hygiene education to all people. We set out with a goal to raise enough funds to drill 2 wells at 2 schools. This goal would mean clean drinking water for 2,000 children and their families! It was a big goal. Hydrating Humanity has had some amazing breakthrough in making well-digging possible in regions where clean water has been inaccessible, but digging wells is still very expensive. Each well costs $10,000 and we were confidently asking the Lord to come through and provide enough funds to dig 2 of them.
Going into this night of worship, we told the Lord that we wanted to partner with Him to see lives changed. On December 3rd, over 700 people came out to the sold out worship night. All ticket sales and donations went to support the dream of making clean water a reality in specific regions of Kenya. We set up our Cageless Birds merchandise table and donated all of the proceeds to the cause. By the end of the night, the Father had gone way above and beyond what we asked. Between the 700 people that came, we raised $40,000. That’s an average donation of $57 per person! We were blown away that the Father not only met our goal, but doubled it! In just a few hours, enough money was raised to dig 4 wells. Cageless Birds Well 2 is also now complete, providing clean water to the kids of Nyabokarange Primary and Secondary School and their families. Every day, children will be able to fill up buckets of water to take home, helping to eliminate waterborne diseases in these regions. In addition to clean drinking water, these children are also now able to receive proper hygiene education and to hear the Gospel of Jesus. They get to experience the reality of tasting and seeing that the Lord is good! Cageless Birds Well 3 is currently under construction and we can’t wait to celebrate its completion in the coming months!
We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came out and helped us double this goal! So many of you bought tickets, came out to the event and celebrated alongside us that night. It was an honor to have you right there with us, working toward the same goal! For others that were unable to make it, the reality is that we could not have done it without you. Your consistent support makes it possible for us to donate our time, gifts and resources to others. We want you to know that you are making a difference. All the way around the world, children have ear-to-ear grins on their faces as they pump fresh water from a well called Cageless Birds: a well dedicated to Jesus, a well that testifies of His goodness and provision. You are changing lives. You are making a difference. This is your victory.
We want to encourage you that you have a global impact! This month, it looks like smiling children in Kenya. In the spring it looks like second year students returning to the land. In the autumn it looks like transformed young adults in the Farmhouse. From schools and retreats at A Place for the Heart to clean water in Kenya, you are changing the world. We consider it a privilege to run alongside you and are so grateful for your support! Our prayer is that you feel the Father’s smile and His gratitude surrounding you.
To learn more about Hydrating Humanity, visit their website at www.hydratinghumanity.org.
GPS Coordinates of Cageless Birds Wells 1 and 2: S01.22902 E034.53250 and S01.17340 E034.54191
