LifeStraws to Borneo

World Outreach International senior leader, Malcolm Bayliss is team member at the Mount Hope Training centre, an educational centre providing educational opportunities for village children in West Kalimantan, Borneo. He reports that his team of workers handed out 270 Lifestraws in Mundun, a village of 80 families that is well known to Mt Hope. Malcolm and his wife Linda are now based in Kuching in Malaysia on a new assignment with WOI.

Health Issues - The people in this village often suffer from sore stomachs, headaches, diarrhea, etc but try to limit these symptoms by boiling their water. Even so, when the people are out working in the rice paddies or in the oil plantations harvesting rubber they are forced to drink dirty river water.

Their Response - Initially there was a look of disbelief on the faces of the villagers when they heard that the Lifestraw could make dirty water safe to drink. However their attitude changed when Malcolm explained that the World Health Organisation endorsed the Lifestraw. As the team demonstrated how to use the Lifestraws, a local community leader visited the village Chief to explain that Malcolm’s team had come to provide a solution to drinking dirty water and invited the Chief to receive the Lifestraws for his community.

With the Chief looking on, water was taken out of a muddy pond and the Chief invited to take a Lifestraw and drink from it.. Malcolm then asked the Chief what the water tasted like and he said, "this water tastes normal”! Needless to say permission was then given to distribute the Lifestraws and nearly every member of Mundun took one.