Volunteer group is delivering promise

ALBANY- For two decades, a group of volunteers based in Illinois have been "delivering the promise" of clean water to residents in Africa.

Dougherty Rotary Club members got a firsthand look on what their mission entails recently.

Volunteers with Marion Medical Mission work directly with residents of southern Africa in constructing shallow wells in various villages in the region. The mission supplies the cement, pipe, pump, skilled labor and training - the residents of the village take care of the rest.

"The one thing we have plenty of in Africa is hard working people," said Harry Jones, a mission volunteer from Thomasville.

Marion Medical Mission's goal this year is to build 2,000 wells to provide 400,000 of the poor in Africa with a sustainable source of safe drinking water.

"We are faithful, we believe it will come," said Jones, who made his first missionary trip in 2006. "(The wells) just come together; it's miraculous."

Thirty-five volunteers are expected to assist in well construction this fall as part of the mission by paying their own way. The first day in the region is spent training with field work beginning the next day.

A decent amount of work has been done toward getting clean water to those that need it, but Jones said the need is far from fulfilled.

"We have decades of work ahead of us," he said.

All of the funds go toward construction of the wells. The cost for the materials to build a well is roughly $350. The primary focus has been in Malawi, but the missionary has extended to other areas.

The individual villages request the wells, after which the land is surveyed to find a usable spot for construction. The wells run about 10 to 30 feet deep.

The wells can only be effectively built at the end of the dry season, giving only two months for construction. In 2008, 1,727 wells were built before the rains came. This year, trips will be made to Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia from Sept. 18 to Oct. 12 and Oct. 9 to Nov. 2.

Marion Medical Mission started in the 1980s with a group of volunteers from a church in Marion, Ill. originally focused on the famine in Ethiopia. Their missionary eventually moved to Malawi. The group now has volunteers from 20 to 30 states.

"Anyone can be involved," Jones said. "If you want to show love for your neighbors, help them out."

For more information, visit www.marionmedical.org.