The small village of El Palmarcito is hidden deep in the folds of El Salvador’s hills — a tiny speck located along the way to nowhere in particular. Unless you have a reason to go there, you will never see it. There are no places of interest, no restaurants, nothing to beckon you there.

Twenty–seven families, however, call El Palmarcito home. And, in the words of young Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, “there is no place like home.” Dorothy was right. There is no place like home, even if home is a place that lacks access to clean water.

It’s hard to imagine that in all of its history, there is not a day that El Palmarcito has had access to clean at–the–source potable water. Like all of the villages tucked here and there under the canopy of these lush hills, villagers have depended on streams, rivers, and occasional hand–dug wells for their water.

But, these water sources are neither reliable nor free of the contaminants that cause diarrhea and other water–related illnesses. Ironically, there is a warning sign at a water–crossing at the river that flows lazily beside El Palmarcito. It reads simply: Rio Peligroso, which translated means Dangerous River.

One local explained to me that this little river can be easily transformed by flash floods that send angry waves of water down paths of least resistance. Years ago almost thirty soccer players were killed as their vehicle was overturned by flash floods that came barreling down this river. So, the warning sign is absolutely legit.

But, it is legit for other reasons as well. This is indeed a dangerous river because it carries all sorts of contaminants from a garbage disposal site farther up-stream. So, even when the waters are calm they are dangerous.

We have come to change all that by giving the folks here what we take for granted in our own homes — a reliable source of clean water. As you can imagine, this is a big deal here and cause for celebration. Everybody has put on their best smiles for the occasion.

We drilled to a depth of 120–feet on our first day and the signs are hopeful. Our prayer is that, by the end of this week, the people of this village will have a clean source of water for the first time in their history. Good things happen when Christ–followers move in the direction of people in need.