Volunteer to Help Provide Countries with Clean Water

Once baptized, all Catholics are entered into society to fulfill the will of God. Catholics are recognized as being missionaries once the holy water is trickled over their heads. A missionary is someone sent by Jesus to spread the word of the faith and to help people all over the world. Jesus said to them again,'...As the Father has sent Me, I also send you'-John 20:21. Well known Catholic, Sister Demetria Smith came to the Catholic School in which I teach to discuss with the children exactly how they helped fulfill the call of the mission. Sister Demetria Smith has volunteered all over the world to help poor children in places such as Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and Uganda where she has volunteered as a nurse and midwife. During the last few months the children at my school have been bringing in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills to donate to the specific mission that our parish chose to help. Although our schoolchildren knew that they were helping, they didn't understand exactly what they were helping people accomplish in the poverty stricken countries. Do you feel like you want to volunteer and give back to society? Do you run out of time in the day to remember those who suffer?

Sister Demetria captured on slides people from poor countries who suffer from poverty, disease, and possibly self humiliation day in and day out. Most of these people don't have any source of clean water. The money that our school gifted went directly to countries such as Uganda to help these people build machines to help supply them with clean water. Imagine these poor people drinking from the same water that animals lay their droppings in, where they clean their dirty clothes, and where children sometimes go to the bathroom? With no time to boil the water, women in these countries stampede back and forth from the lakes to their homes transporting the water on their heads. Tired and aching, the women always give the water to their elders and children first. The mission that our school donated the money to helped these people build the pipes and equipment to enable the families to have water nearby. The underprivileged children now are thrilled to spend their recesses pumping the water. If others saw the detailed slides of what exactly goes on in these countries, more people would be compelled to volunteer. Seeing truly is believing.

As a missionary, it is all Catholics moral obligation to volunteer their time and to support brothers and sisters near and far. While we spend twenty extra minutes in the shower rinsing our bodies of minuscule pieces of dust, other children in poor countries are dying for a drip of clean water. Catholics and people of other faiths have it in their hearts to want to help. Finding the time in this fast paced world is what keeps many people from doing what Jesus proposed. Do you want to make a difference as well? Do you want to volunteer your time to become part of a specific mission? There are various websites out there including worldpartnersusa.com and crs.org that can help lead you to help others have a better and more fulfilling life. You can also directly contact Sr. Demetria Smith to gain a better understanding of voluntary missionary at 1-800-382-9836.