When members of the women’s social club GATA asked GATA sponsor and biology professor Amber Hug if there was a service project they could do, Hug had the perfect idea in mind: building wells in Africa and raising awareness for Global Hand Washing Day on Oct. 15.
This idea came from Professor of Biology Dr. Steven Moore who traveled to Ghana, South Africa and South Sudan this summer and saw how people were working to drill 91 different wells. Although the wells cost about $12,000 each to drill, they can help improve the water quality in many different villages.
Moore’s trip helped him see that building these wells and being taught good health habits were not the only thing that people in the villages benefitted from; they were also taught the Bible.
“All of this is done free to the villages and after that, evangelists come in and start teaching the gospel,” Moore said. “So, the Church of Christ has a very good reputation in the area as wanting to serve, but also to minister to those people in a number of different ways. They help these people, they teach them about hand washing and they teach them how to service and maintain these wells. It’s the whole package that they put together to help these people, so they can essentially help themselves.”
After Hug presented this idea to the club, Moore came to talk to GATA. The club was very excited about the water well project as well. To help raise money for the project, GATA and the biology department decided to sell T-shirts in the student center for $10 each. All of the profits will go to the water well project. They also had a bucket designed like a well for people to make donations.
“Every quarter, every dime, nickel and penny helps,” sophomore GATA Service Project Director Holly Jones said. “If every kid brought a dollar to chapel, you could easily build two wells. I think that it is an excellent project to build as our own little pet project because it’s a good thing for the girls to get involved in and it’s good for Harding to get involved in it.”
Moore said he hopes to take a picture of all the students wearing the Global Hand Washing Day T-shirts on Oct. 15 to send to the villages along with the money that has been collected to help drill more wells.
Hug said that interacting with people outside their group and with a completely different department has opened their eyes to the fact that no matter what your major is, you can come together and serve God.
“It’s just like Jeremiah 20:9 where he says ‘I can’t not say anything about this. If I don’t say anything, my bones will cry out,'” Hug said. “So, I think for the girls to have a service project that they find meaningful (and) that has purpose allows them to get outside their shell and actually be bold.”
Hug said GATA is interested in making this fundraiser an annual event and to have a Harding hand washing day every October 15th. She hopes that eventually other clubs will join in once the event becomes more established.
“Harding students have huge hearts,” Moore said. “I think people could get involved in so many ways, whether it’s helping financially or that they could see for themselves what work is being done.”
