The Need for Clean Water in Ukraine Continues
Water With Blessings has received an update from Aleksey, our contact for
Razom for Ukraine. Aleksey emphasized that American TV news does not show
the full horror of the devastating attacks on the Ukrainian people. His mother
hears from a family member working as a medic in Ukraine who has described
horrifying scenes of death and extreme injuries. â€śClean water is becoming a
bigger need in Ukraine,” Aleksey stressed.
The first shipment of mini filters is taking a long journey from Chicago to New
Jersey and then Poland before reaching people in extreme need in Ukraine.
Aleksey’s team has made a short video for Ukrainian users about using and
maintaining the mini filters so that clean water can continue to flow. Another
shipment of mini filters will soon be sent to Ukraine. You can help Water With
Blessings support this urgent mission.

Each Sawyer mini filter, packaged with a 16-ounce pouch, includes instructions
in Ukrainian, and handwritten messages of encouragement and support. “Making
the impersonal, personal -- that’s our hallmark,” says Sister Larraine. “We know
the power of human hope is just as important as the power of these great filters.”
Along with packing the necessary supplies for our first shipment, volunteers have
been carefully copying translations of hopeful messages into Ukrainian using the
Cyrillic alphabet. One repeated message of hope is “Take courage -- God is with
you.” Please consider joining with us as we build more bridges of hope and
support to people experiencing extreme stress and loss.
Passion Sunday
Gospel:  Luke 19:  28-40  

“Free Listening.”  Signs offering this valuable gift filled a park in Dublin, Ireland a few years ago.  Members of the International Listening Association were meeting in Dublin and decided to gather among people in the area.  Some passers-by were skeptical and believed the signs were a joke.  Others joined the volunteers holding signs and shared their concerns, hopes, sorrows and fears.  One woman approached a volunteer and cried because of many losses and an inability to share her pent-up feelings with anyone.  Both volunteers and participants shared tears and support.  For some, paying for a counselor was not in the budget, and others were fearful of opening up wounds and sharing on a deep level.  Each of us needs to know that there is someone who will listen to our personal experiences without judgment.  

What does this offer of listening have to do with Jesus and his triumphant ride on a donkey to Jersulem?  This moment was the culmination of three years of listening–beginning with his going out into the desert for 40 days of listening to God’s call for his ministry of teaching and healing.  There he surrounded himself with silence so he could hear God’s call and move forward as one who would hear the voices of many in need.  He left the desert with open arms, welcoming the poor, marginalized, women, Samaritans, and tax collectors.  He “heard the cries of the poor.”  

His was not a judgmental listening, but empathic listening.  He not only heard; he listened.  How often do we find ourselves in a conversation in which the other person is ready to respond before we have finished a sentence?  Student debate teams learn how to “win an argument, with comebacks and counter-arguments.”  The hunger in the time of Jesus and today is for someone who can hear our pain and our losses while offering empathy and affirming our dignity.   

Unlike the Pharisees, who offered judgment and stones, Jesus offered compassion and healing for those most in need.  We find in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus is greeted by many he touched.  He was greeted by cloaks on a dusty road, by palm branches as a special way to honor one who honored them with teaching, healing and listening.  They were there for him because he was there for them, hearing “the cries of the poor,” in body and spirit.  Soon the script will change, but Jesus’ open stance will continue to accept people as they are, even those who deny or betray him.

Water With Blessings continues to hear the cries of those in need in 48 countries. We empower mothers and their families as they seek clean water and empathetic listening.  Because of your support, we continue to respond to their cries.
Bridge Builders to Hope and Transformative Change Are Here

Water With Blessings responds to needs around the world by building bridges of life-saving support, hope and community.  

Advocates are at the heart of our shared mission from Haiti and Honduras to Ukraine and Zambia.  Mission-driven bridges are bridges that last.
We believe every child should be drinking clean water. Are you with us?
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