Farel Ndango

Farel Ndango, Water for Good director in the war-torn country of Central African Republic, will give a first-hand eyewitness report on his country’s situation at 6 p.m. Sunday, June 22, in the worship center of Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church, 1200 Kings Highway, Winona Lake. The program is free and open to the public and will include a question-and-answer time.

Ndango, who has worked with Water for Good since 2005, remained in the capital city of Bangui through the violence, even though he at one point had to flee his home and move his family to an internally displaced peoples’ camp (IDP camp).

The C.A.R. has regularly suffered from poverty and political instability, but the recent violence has turned neighbor against neighbor. Over the last 12 months, nearly one million people, roughly 20 percent of the population, have fled their homes because they feared attacks from roving militias and rebel groups.

The two main groups in the conflict have both targeted civilians, often along religious lines: the Séléka are the mostly Muslim rebels who overthrew the government in March of 2013, and the Anti-Balaka militias are mostly Christian/anti-Muslim fighters. For the last several months, the Anti-Balaka militias have massacred Muslim communities and ethnic minorities as revenge for previous months of conflict when Séléka targeted Christians and churches.

Founded in 2004, Water for Good works collaboratively, in long-term partnership, with communities in Central Africa, empowering people with sustainable access to clean water, transformational sanitation principles, and improved agricultural resources. Water for Good is a faith-based, non-profit organization based in Warsaw, with permanent headquarters in two Central African cities, Bangui and Berberati. Water for Good has drilled more than 550 new wells, repaired 804 broken wells, and provides regular well maintenance to a network of 800 wells in the Central African Republic, serving roughly 20 percent of C.A.R.’s population over the last 9 years.

Water for Good Founder and CEO, Jim Hocking, who will be present Sunday evening to translate and give further information, explains, “We are uniquely able to stay involved because all of our projects are accomplished through the efforts of more than 100 Central African staff members. We empower local people to use water to relieve suffering and send a powerful message of peace.” Water for Good has drilled 75 new water wells in the last year that now collectively serve more than 40,000 people.