Rudy Schaffer’s Guatemala Trip

In June of this year, our partner charity, Water4LifeMinistry, and their team of water ambassadors went on their fourth trip to Guatemala to distribute 250 water filters to families lacking clean water. The head of this team, Rudy Schaffer, shares some of his experiences while in the country.

Rudy’s team was stationed in Antigua, a city in the central highlands of Guatemala. The first morning of the trip they prepped and packed 50 water filters, and took a three hour car drive to an area referred to as Los Tubos by the locals. Los Tubos is a very poor area of Guatemala, with the residents spending their days collecting trash to make money off of. This place is where the team met their new partner, Thania. 

Thania’s life’s work has been to aid and support many of the families who live in Los Tubos. To quote Rudy, “Thania, is an amazing woman of God, who helps the families living on the city dump there…it was such a Blessing to meet her and the 50 families she serves.” Thania continues to provide food, shelter, healthcare, hygiene, and now, with the help of our water filters, clean water solutions. 

These families, including the over 100 children, spend each day rifling through the trash of the Los Tubos dump, searching for plastic and metal to sell. These efforts only afford them $5 a day to live on. Because of this extremely low wage, these families have almost nothing. Their living conditions are incredibly heartbreaking, living next to the dump, with all of the smells and smoke they have to endure.

These conditions, as you can imagine, do not warrant clean drinking water. Very much the opposite. Because of this, these families were so incredibly grateful to receive water filters. “It was such a treat to be with all the children…” Says Rudy. “To give the mothers our life saving water filters so they can now feed their babies, small children, and family members safe, clean water to drink, to help keep them healthy.” Each mother was so thankful for receiving the filters, pre filters, and buckets. “[They] thanked us with giant hugs and smiles.”

Rudy says that it always fills his heart with joy to be with the children on these trips. To spend time with them, and to watch how happy they are, being too young to realize how hard their lives are. “We give them balloons and make bubbles to play with and give them small toys, which lights up their faces….Praise God for this!!”

Rudy Schaffer has added the first family that they met with at the dump to the Family Sponsorship Program that his charity, Water4LifeMinistry, has created. This sponsorship program will help provide them with nutrition rich food, help the children go to school, and many other things they need, including helping to improve their homes. Water4LifeMinistry will continue to add more families as they find more sponsors.

With the help of Rudy Schaffer and his team, we are continually working to provide those in need with safe, clean drinking water, and we thank Rudy, and those at Water4LifeMinistry, for their work!

As well as helping the families in Los Tubos, the trip was also spent delivering 250 water filters to local villages in the area. Alongside the family from Los Tubos, Water4LifeMinistry has added an additional 2 families to their sponsorship program. If you or someone you know has money to spare, please look into being a sponsor for one or more of these families. 

Lina and her 8 children face enormous challenges, and it is evident the love they have for each other and their desire to change their futures. Learn more about Lina’s Story here.

Three sisters, Maudi, Maria, and Grislda, have lived alone since their mother died of cancer, and their dad has been unavailable due to health challenges. Learn more about these 3 precious sisters here. 

Rosalba with her three children live in a small tin shack in the mountains above Antigua. Rosalba is a loving mother, but suffers from acute diabetes, high blood pressure, and malnourishment. Learn more about this Rosalba (and perhaps consider sponsoring her knee surgery) here.

These families that have been added to the Family Sponsorship Program are needing anywhere from $200-$300 a month. This money will allow these mothers and children to have nutrition-rich food, schooling, surgery, and many other necessities. If you have the money, please consider becoming a sponsor for one of these families, and help these children and families work towards a brighter future! 

Rudy Schaffer and his team, as well as long-time supporter of Water4LifeCharity, Alexandrine Harig, will be returning to Guatemala in June 2023, to continue the work they have started. Thank you once again to Rudy and his team at Water4LifeMinistry for all the incredible work they are doing!