Smack! Wack! Snap! The thick maize leaves pop in the morning air as they slap against Essah’s face, arms, and legs. Muscle memory weaves his rickety bicycle with precision along the narrow path cutting through the field. The trail eventually emerges from the dense crop and crosses a steep incline over rugged train tracks before intersecting a dirt road. Essah dodges a pair of speeding motorbikes churning up plumes of caramel dust before easing his way into the foot traffic hugging the edge of the street. Only a few kilometers remain.
Most of these people are heading to the agricultural and textile market, where he hopes to sell cassava flour in a few days. On this trip, however, he’s focused on a destination just a few hundred yards from that bustling hub. After one final turn, his journey culminates at the front gate of Vapor’s Togoville center.
Essah has traveled over three miles to collect free filtered water from the center’s well. He arrives early so that the sweltering heat and energy-depleting humidity peak after he completes the time-intensive chore. Essah waits patiently for his battered 25-liter jug to fill, then screws the lid tightly, heaves the now 55-pound container onto the bicycle seat, and secures it with twine as best he can. The trip home will be slow as he steers with one hand and balances the sloshing load with the other. He’ll do it all again tomorrow, but it’s worth the effort to ensure his family has clean water for drinking, cooking, and processing the cassava flour.
Essah isn’t the only one in his home completing the 6.5-mile loop multiple times each week. Three of his four children travel the same route barefoot to participate in the discipleship program. “Gospel teaching is important,” he says. “Our children go there for league.”
Vapor’s influence and impact are not limited to life within the center. Through the years, Essah and his family have received food supplies during community outreach and evangelism efforts, and they’ve experienced your touch in the nearby village when health services were out of financial reach. In fact, the day we met with Essah to learn about his story, your compassion had already been at work helping make his sick daughter well. She was being treated for Malaria in a local clinic, and when Vapor team members learned about her situation, they stepped in to cover the fees.
There are approximately 13,000 steps in 6.5 miles. Hundreds of people like Essah and thousands of children like his make the exhausting journey to retrieve free life-giving water, receive free life-sustaining health services, and hear about the Giver of Life. But your feet cover that same great distance, bringing critical resources and the Good News of Christ to countless others in need. Your faithful generosity makes it all possible. Thank you!
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