Below is an article that was published in the AZ Daily Sun, the newspaper in my hometown in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was back in Flagstaff last weekend doing some friend-raising and fund-raising for Healing Waters, and visiting my awesome parents. (Love you guys Moms and Pops, thanks for a great visit!)
I was the keynote speaker at the Missions Brunch at my hometown church, Federated Community Church. I also spoke to the Flagstaff Rotary Club, the great folks who sponsored me and Jessica to live in Ecuador back in 2001. In addition I met with the wonderful people at Faith Works to talk about Healing Waters and hear about their short-terms mission trips they run. Finally I met with the campus ministry group at NAU, where a great reporter from the Arizona Daily Sun joined us and wrote the article below. The original article on the newspaper website is here, but I copied and pasted the whole thing below. Enjoy!
On a mission for clean water
By BETSEY BRUNER
Sun Staff Reporter
Saturday, October 17, 2009
When Greg Allen-Pickett was working toward his Ph.D. in international studies at the University of Denver several years ago, he decided to toss out theories and get his hands dirty.
Inspired by a talk he had previously heard by a Healing Waters International representative, Allen-Pickett decided to leave school and join the nonprofit organization, which is based in Golden, Colo.
Two years later, Allen-Pickett, who was raised in Flagstaff, returned this week to his hometown to give several talks about the mission of the project, which creates clean-water systems in three Latin American countries.
A DAILY REALITY
When traveling, people from wealthier countries sometimes think they are the only ones who get sick when they drink water in Third World countries.
"The reality in 90 percent of the cities in Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, the water coming out of the tap is so contaminated, you can't drink it, no matter what your nationality," he told a gathering Monday night at the Campus Ministry Center at NAU. "The daily reality is they just can't go to the tap and get a glass of drinking water, and they have to treat any water they are going to cook with, too."
The Campus Ministry venue was chosen for a talk because members of the ministry had traveled in March to Guatemala with Healing Waters.
His parents, Dean and Cindy Pickett, still live in Flagstaff and came to hear the talk at the ministry.
Allen-Pickett, who received a Rotary grant in 2001 to be a goodwill ambassador in Ecuador, also gave a talk Tuesday to the Flagstaff Rotary Club.
BAD WATER-BORNE ILLNESSES
In a PowerPoint presentation, Allen-Pickett showed a variety of water-borne diseases that affect people worldwide: Cholera, E. coli, salmonella, parasites, tapeworm, giardia and fecal coliforms.
Healing Waters statistics show that more than 1.6 million children under the age of 5 die from water-borne illnesses each year, and that diarrhea from water-borne disease is the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children.
Allen-Pickett, 31, is the field operations manager, which requires him to spend several months a year visiting Healing Waters field offices. His wife, Jessica, a high-school English teacher in Denver, sometimes accompanies him on trips.
Work in the field includes distribution of free drinking water, raffles for free 5-gallon water bottles, bottle sterilization and the installation of water-purification systems in local churches.
"I'm so happy doing the work I'm doing right now. It's very fulfilling," he said.
CHURCH PARTNERS ESSENTIAL
The partnership with churches is essential to the success of the mission.
Allen-Pickett, who attended Federated Community Church while living in Flagstaff, told people at the talk that churches are ideal locations for water projects because they are stable, trusted and located right in the middle of communities.
"The revenue the church generates goes back to the community," he said. "There is no conversion talk. The Bible doesn't make health contingent on believing in Jesus. It was just, 'Come to the church, get some water.'"
He said Catholics and Protestants in Latin America are often at odds with each other politically. But working together on clean-water projects can unite them in a common purpose.
The relatively simple concepts of water purification can be complicated by government regulations, he said, but Healing Waters workers have received phenomenal cooperation from the Mexican government.
"It's an enormous problem, with one in six lacking access to safe drinking water," Allen-Pickett concluded. "But I don't think this is a story of sadness; it is a story of hope and opportunity."
Betsey Bruner can be reached at bbruner@azdailysun.com or 556-2255.
To learn more
For more information about Healing Waters International, visit the Web site at http://www.healingwatersintl.org.
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