Water After 60 Years
After the Covid Pandemic, Silliman Water Ministry had lost its technical staff person, but did not have a budget line to hire a new person. It was a blessing that the PCUSA Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program offered a way for me to pursue my dream of working with water engineering as part of Silliman Water Ministry. In October of 2024, I was invited to be part of Silliman Water Ministry through the YAV program.
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Our first project was to fulfill a request by the Roman Catholic Seminary in this region named St. Joseph’s Seminary. They have had a well for water at the seminary for 60 years, but the water testing results had always been a mark of failure in terms of it being safe to drink. Thus, they could not drink from their own well.
St. Joseph's Seminary in Sibulan, Negros Oriental.
Silliman Water Ministry visited the Seminary and looked at the results of the water testing. I was assigned to come up with a filtration system that might solve their unhealthy water problem. I drew up a plan and consulted our Director. The plan was approved, and I begin purchasing and constructing the needed clean water system for the Seminary. I worked several weeks of constructing the water system and when it was done we all suddenly felt the pressure of possibly failing the water test.
The Purification system I built of St. Joseph's Seminary.
When we finally took the water test, the results came back “Failed”. We had not successfully eliminated all the bacteria. We were embarrassed that our effort had failed. Our Chemist explained to me that the UV light which kills the bacteria is not doing its work. At that point I thought to slow down the volume of water going through the UV light to give more time for the UV light to do its work. We then took a second sample to the laboratory. To our joy the results came back “Passed”. It was now safe to drink the water. The Rector of the Seminary was elated saying that “for 60 years we have been waiting to finally drink the water from our own wells. Now it is possible. To God be the glory.”
My Passion for Water Engineering
I want to begin this journey with you by introducing you to myself and how I came to understand the technical side of Silliman Water Ministry. I am a person who has always been excited about the outdoors and physical activities. I excelled in sports of all types, but never came to love the discipline of academic work. In my moments of frustration with school, my father who was working with the Silliman Ministry Program would invite me to the water processing plant to change filters and repair piping. It was during this time that I began to develop an interest in the workings of a water system.
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During the tragic event in the Philippines, when a city in Mindanao was taken over by Muslim extremists in 2017. A school of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) named Dansalan College was caught in the crossfire of the war. The students and the school had to evacuate to the city of Iligan some hours from the affected area. In Iligan, clean drinking water and regular electricity was a problem and needed a solution.
My smiling face celebrating the clean water produced by the Solar Pure at Dansalan.
Silliman Water Ministry had been working on a small mobile solar powered water purifier. This captured my imagination. I began to work with Silliman Water Ministry on this prototype, experimenting with it until we arrived at a workable unit to take to the evacuated Dansalan College. Much of my learning was from hours studying youtube videos that taught me so much. It was a meaningful journey when Silliman Water Ministry was able to hand over the solar water purifier to Dansalan College. This provided Dansalan College the comfort of knowing their drinking water was clean.
I am second from left at the turn over of the Solar Pure to Dansalan College in Mindanao.
After Dansalan College, I had to find another permanent work because Silliman Water Ministry did not have a budget line for a second technical person.