On 13 April 1970, exposed electrical wiring on board the 13th Apollo space mission caused a potentially life-threatening explosion on the craft. Compounded electrical failure meant the crew had to cope with a drastically limited power supply, critically inadequate oxygen and severe cold, which affected their ability to function, sleep and work. Using the lunar module as a 'lifeboat', the crew survived by adapting what was to hand to make good the module's post-explosion failings and returned safely to Earth within four days.
Maurice Connor, a CMS mission partner in Pakistan and water engineer, was inspired by this story. It caused him to adopt what he calls "the Apollo 13 approach to development".
He explains what that means: "When I was on the Oxfam development course in Selly Oak, God gave me a passion for helpful ideas that can spread by themselves and for finding ways in which people can help themselves, using means already at their disposal."
In the light of that philosophy, Maurice has devised an astonishingly simple system which enables people in the developing world touse natural biological processes, and materials they already possess,to purify water.
For example, there's Madho, the son of a landless farm worker in the south of Pakistan. He has been helping his family to make their own filter from a clay pot and some sand.
He was taught by his uncle, a village elder. His uncle has already instructed the other families in Madho's village on how to make their own filters.
Madho's uncle learned the technique on a one-day teacher-training course, run by a local development organisation, the Lower Sindh Rural Development Association.
There he was given a heavily illustrated poster, by way of course notes, and lessons in how to pass the skill on. He made a filter under supervision and, in order to gain immediate experience of teaching, instructed a fellow 'pupil' on how to make one. Elders from 15 other villages attended the training. Since March 2005, it has benefitted 100 underprivileged families and their neighbours in Lower Sindh — about 1,000 villagers in total.
Delegates from other organisations interested in starting similar projects also attend the course. They are given free resources to help them to initiate their projects.
Water-borne disease is a major problem in Pakistan. Boiling drinking water to sterilise it uses too much fuel. Private water companies are not the whole answer because, even if they remain commercially viable, they are vulnerable to corruption, civil conflict and regional wars.
Using naturally occurring biology to purify drinking water is becoming internationally recognised as the best way to combat water-borne diseases in developing countries.
"God made good bugs to eat the bad bugs," says Maurice. Beneficial biology is already present in all dirty water, and the filter works by encouraging such microbes to colonise sand through which the water passes. Until now, such filters were made of plastic and manufactured in the West or were made locally of moulded concrete and distributed by development agencies.
In Maurice's system, however, ordinary clay pots and other readily available materials are used, in conjunction with teaching methods that are easy for local people to grasp.
For Madho's family, which has very little income, learning to make their own filter meant they were then able to help themselves. They came to value what they had to hand, and also discovered something they could do for others.
Maurice and his wife Laura, who set up the water-filter project together, say they work on the basis that the best things in life, even if occasionally overlooked, are often already available because they come from God, who loves us all."
Maurice says, "If the design is simple and cheap enough for all to make, it will not be marketable enough to be harnessed by business, yet it can be made available to everyone who needs it.
"Once the design for home-made biological sand filters has been made common knowledge by governments and development organisations, all households will be able to protect themselves from water-borne diseases, both in the countries where water is currently not safe and in other countries as the need arises.
"God's provided for all of us in more ways than we know about. There's still more about his love for us to discover! rMy hope is that everybody who needs to do so will discover how to use such beneficial biology and that human vulnerability to water-borne diseases will be overcome."
Select the link below to see a table showing some of the very different values passed on by teaching people to make their own filters rather than starting projects to manufacture and provide them.
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