Clean Water
No more digging wells if there is a water source, no constructing sand filters, and no more purification chemicals. No one has to boil their water to make it safe ever again.
Families, schools, and orphanages are able to hook up their filters literally in minutes to almost any locally-found container (we recommend 5-gallon containers or larger for better water flow). The gravity-operated filter and fast flow rate means that anyone, anywhere can have clean water in a matter of seconds.
The PointONE filter is only 4 inches long and less than 8 ounces; the Sawyer PointONE can deliver 1 liter of clean water in 60 seconds.
The Sawyer PointONE is a POINT-OF-USE SYSTEM. Since there is such a high flow rate, it eliminates the need to store water, which reduces the chances of water being contaminated after it’s filtered. The only external force required for the system to function is gravity.
All Sawyer filters deliver 0.1 absolute micron biological filtration, removing 7 log (99.99999%) of all bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella typhi (which cause Cholera and Typhoid); and 6 log (99.9999%) of all protozoa such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium.
The kit/ziplock bag includes everything you need to attach the filter to any plastic bucket or container (bucket not included).
Easy Set-Up & Use:
The ease of operating the PointONE filter makes it self-sustainable and dependable. It can be installed in minutes, and the only external force required for the system to function is gravity.
The kit provided includes everything needed to attach the filter to any plastic bucket or container and begin filtering water. To install the system, users:
1) Obtain a clean bucket or plastic container (we recommend a 5-gallon container or larger).
2) Use the hole cutter provided to drill a hole 1.5 inches from the bottom of the bucket (you can do this by hand).
3) Screw the connector, hose, and filter onto the bucket.
4) Fill the bucket with water from any source, lower the filter head below the water line, and let gravity do the rest.
Maintenance:
Maintenance of this filter is very easy and quick. When the filter starts to slow down or clog, simply backwash it with clean water using the syringe provided in the kit.
Long-Lasting:
Since the filters can continuously be backwashed and reused, they have an extremely long life expectancy. The ease of operating this system makes it self-sustainable and dependable. The Sawyer PointONE can last for up to 10+ years!
Portable:
The small size and easy set-up of the Sawyer PointONE means that it can be easily delivered to remote locations. You can fit over 100 in a single suitcase. And while robust enough to sustain dozens of people per filter, the Sawyer PointONE is also compact enough to be safely stored in individual homes.
*Planning a trip? You can order your Sawyer PointONE water filters through Pure Water for Africa.
Medical
My first medical mission trip was in 2010 to Dominican Republic. God rendered my heart there and I have had a passion to serve the poor since that time. I have served in Kenya and Togo on short term missions from 2-4 weeks. Specialty ENT care in Africa is very limited and so I am a tremendous draw for patients with head and neck diseases. My visits to rural Kenya are very busy as I tend to many advanced ENT problems. My heart breaks that these patients are suffering and dying of what we would consider treatable diseases in the US.
Tenwek Hospital is a 300 bed hospital in western Kenya that serves the Kipsigis and Masaai tribes. I work with the Pan African Christian College of Surgeons to help train general surgery residents in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. I am also involved in training the Family Practice residents in Ear, Nose and Throat disorders. God is faithful to bring those in need while I am there and He enables us to care for many advanced problems. We minister to the patients physically but we also pray for each one that they would know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
At Tenwek Hospital we are starting a hearing program to aid those that are hearing impaired. We have donated hearing aids, batteries, and solar chargers. This will be a real blessing especially to the children in need.
I have also served in Kijabe, another rural community in Kenya. I have been participating in a Samaritan’s Purse cleft lip and palate team. We operate on approximately 50 children with the cleft deformity each October. This week is one of the biggest blessings as we see children transformed by God from the curse of a cleft deformity. These children and mothers literally leave the hospital as a new creation in God.
The lack of medical care in these poor areas is an overwhelming problem. I do not try to solve the bigger issues of poverty, lack of resources, diseases of under developed nations. I go to carry the Love of Jesus into places of suffering. I go because my heart breaks for the suffering. I have very little to bring to the table but somehow God uses what I bring and multiples my skills. He touches these people in amazing ways and I am blessed to be an instrument in His hands.
Visit our Donation Page to help pay for medical supplies.
Kitoben Children’s Vision Centre
Kitoben Children’s Vision Centre is the dream of Alice Langat and her husband Samwel. Alice works in the business department of Tenwek Hospital, while Samwel works as an elementary teacher. Working in Tenwek Hospital, Alice became very aware of the many HIV orphans who needed a home. In 1999, Alice and Samwel began taking orphans into their small home located on the hospital campus. Even though they had two children of their own at the time, the number of orphans living with them rapidly grew to 15. Despite their attempts, Alice and Samwel were unable to afford sending the orphans to another orphanage for school.
Visiting missionaries to Tenwek Hospital saw the vision of Alice and Samwel for the growing problem of orphans. They decided to help Alice and Samwel purchase land on the Bomet airstrip. Although some buildings were already present on the land, latrines and more buildings were needed. The clay soil made the construction of the latrines more difficult and expensive than originally thought. Shortly after the building phase, the number of orphans living with Alice and Samwel grew to 60.
Many of the orphans Alice took in were behind in school. Alice’s desire is to give them the best education she can to prepare them for the eighth grade exam. Some of the younger children attend St. Catharine’s Day School, which provides two meals a day and tuition for only $150 a year. Some of the older elementary school children attend Kipkoi Primary School, a Christian boarding school. The fees for tuition, room and board, books, and uniforms totaled less than $400 per year per student. In Kenya, the eighth grade exam is extremely important as it determines which secondary school the child is able to attend. The smaller classes and education at Kipkoi Primary School helped the children to score better on the eighth grade exam, and thus allowed them to advance and have opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to them.
The Kitoben secondary students attend various schools that they were accepted to. In Kenya, secondary education is not free. After the eighth grade exam, children must be invited to attend a specific secondary school. National schools, where a high percentage of students are taken by the universities on scholarships, are considered the highest level of all secondary schools. Provential schools, where a large number of students are still taken by universities, are the next best schools available. While regional schools are at the lowest level, they are the cheapest to attend. However, at this level, very few students are able to get the education needed to do well on the twelfth grade exam and continue on to a university. Trade, vocational, and nursing schools are available to students who do not attend a university if the funds for tuition can be found. Likewise, two-year teacher college, Bible college, or other private colleges are options. Unfortunately for most Kenyans, there are no national loan programs like in the U.S. for college students.
Alice and Samwel work hard each day trying to provide these children not only with a loving Christian home, food, and clothing, but an education and chance at advancement within their culture and community. The Langat’s now have five children of their own and run the Kitoben Children Vision Centre with the aid of Grace, Alice’s mother, Joyce, Alice’s sister, and Benard, Alice’s brother.
Although we have connections for all of our needs and our childrens’, most orphans do not. We have been called to be the connections these orphans need. James 1:27 says, “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.”
Jimmy placed his first 4 Sawyer PointONE water filters at this orphanage back in 2012 and they still work making clean water!