2 September 2008
Open Doors launches 'Walk To The Water' campaign to support Christian women persecuted for their faith
Christians urged to take part in five mile sponsored walk on 13 September
The excitement and razzamatazz of the Olympic Games may be dying down. But British Christians need to remember that many women of rural China, as well as India, Africa and the Middle East, have to walk an average of five miles each day – just to get water for their families.
In addition to bearing this burden, Christian women living in these places are persecuted for their faith; disowned and destitute, they walk to the water alone.
International Christian charity Open Doors is calling upon Christians in the UK to take steps, literally, to help these women, by taking part in a five mile sponsored walk on 13 September. The initiative is called Walk to the Water, and seeks to raise funds to provide education for women in these parts of the world. 120 churches and groups across the country are taking part.
Campaign coordinator, Jenny Wales, commented: "The money raised will help numerous many communities in the developing world, where education is often just for men. Many Christian women in these places, already the victims of the harshest persecution, cannot even get comfort from God's Word because they cannot read. This is why one of the most precious gifts anybody can give to a Christian woman is literacy training to help her read the Bible.
Through this campaign Open Doors hopes to help many people such as the group of ten Believers that were banned from using the village well in Bangladesh because of their faith. The women were forced to walk to the river for water—water shared with animals—putting their families at risk of water-borne diseases. Open Doors was able to provide a tube well closer to home to provide safe drinking water for these families.
Christian women, especially widows with a family to support, struggle to survive in many countries where Open Doors ministers. Their gender and the faith prevent them from finding a job. The money will also help Christian women learn trades so that they can support themselves and their families.
Jenny concluded: "The Bible tells us that God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). Together, by getting involved in Walk to the Water, we can make a difference to the lives of persecuted women who may share our faith but not our freedom".
Grace Edwards of Spalding Baptist Church said: "We participated last year in Walk to the Water. We prayed as we walked and really felt we were part of the answer for so many Christian women who are forced to walk for up to five miles every day just to get water for their families."
