The Ugliness of Contaminated Water in Kenya By Kate Newmyer How many of us have gone on a trip to a developing country and truly understood the horrible effects of contaminated water? As Westerners traveling on short-term trips, we take precautions, and thus our bodies usually remain unscarred by the water-related diseases affecting those we go to help. But for one Lifewater volunteer, the ugliness of contaminated water affected him profoundly. Accompanying Cathy Fitzgerald to Rabondo, Kenya, in January, new volunteer David Flynn was eager to learn about water development and drilling with the LS-100. While there, he participated in the dedication of a well, which Cathy drilled last June. He rejoiced that families were now able to drink clean water instead of the putrid river water that flowed nearby. Complaints of stomach ailments had lessened in the village as a result of their new water source. Upon leaving Kenya, David experienced terrible pain along with swelling in his groin. Red streaks appeared on his legs and he spent the 27-hour journey home in agony. He stumbled off the plane and consulted a doctor, discovering that a cut on his leg had become so severely infected that the lymph nodes in his groin swelled to grapefruit size. While in Kenya, David had washed and disinfected the small cut, a result of working with the drill rig, the moment he sustained it. However, the next day he stood ankle deep in the nearby river with his team, sorting gravel for the construction of a new well in the hot Kenyan sun. Only the grace of God and a few heavy drugs cleared up the infection. The seriousness of his condition did not hit David until he was safe at home. He thought about the newly dedicated well pouring forth clean water for about 250 people and about the river in which he stood, the river harboring bacteria that infected him so malevolently. It was the same river those families, before receiving their well, had been using for their drinking water. More Articles from the 2005 Spring Newsletter: Water & Disaster | Sharing the Amazon in Peru Blessing the Nations From Home | The Silent Tsunami