Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is a tremendous need worldwide and is essential for healthy and thriving communities.
To make transformational and sustainable impact beyond the walls of site development and to help close the WASH access gap, EMI is growing our abilities to work directly in communities.
We have been on a journey of learning while using our abilities to serve communities and the church along the way.
From Alaska to Ethiopia to Cambodia, we’ve been taking steps towards building WASH at EMI.
Since 2021, EMI has been working alongside partners across Alaska to support WASH needs in remote communities.
We have been implementing statewide remote-monitoring installations as well as developing the Community Utility Assistance Program (CUAP) that supports communities in the Bering Straits region.
Summer is a particularly busy season in Alaska.
The CUAP is upgrading and repairing twelve water and wastewater systems in the region as well as continuing to provide municipal accounting support for these communities.
A home repair project began in the community of Elim, which will prevent pipes freezing in winter and ensure homeowners realize the benefits of being connected to piped water and sewer.
EMI also joined with the local church in Elim to host a water day, which brought the community together to play water games and celebrate the abundance of water resources Elim possesses.
Just as much as communities need WASH services, these services also need the community coming together to develop and sustain them.
A team of EMI staff from five different offices travelled to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya in August.
Our task was to help a community build a water treatment filter, provide WASH training to local utility leaders, and participate in a community development workshop.
While EMI was able to bring technical expertise in building and operating the filter, the community brought people together of all ages to help with gathering and preparing the local resources like sand and rocks.
The time spent in East Africa provided new ways of seeing how we can apply community development principles to EMI’s work in WASH.
The challenges that communities face in the realm of WASH are complex, and we need their partnership to help find solutions.
The WASH team in Cambodia is developing partnerships with organizations and communities who are committed to providing safe and accessible water.
This year, we designed a water treatment plant that will supply water to 2000 households across 19 villages.
We’ve also helped a community have sufficient water in the dry season and worked with the community to troubleshoot distribution issues.
Beyond our contributions towards the government’s’ goal of universal water access by 2030, we are also growing our team’s capacity to provide more holistic and transformational WASH services within communities.
We continue to seek God’s guidance as we develop and learn how to best serve communities through WASH with the gifts God has given us.
Help us continue to go beyond the walls and be salt and light in communities with our skills in WASH.
We’re looking for people who share our passion to join this emerging team.
Connect with us and hear more from the team in Cambodia in our upcoming WASH webinar.
And we’re raising US$500,000 to pilot new WASH projects and keep building on this momentum.
Help us get there with a gift to Growing Globally.
