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"It’s happening again,” said the 17-year-old seated next to me on the airplane. A veteran of several mission experiences, she was making her second trip to the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. On board an Aeroméxico flight from Houston to Mérida our fellow travelers were Mexican citizens, a few vacationers and the 24 members of our mission team. We were to spend a week in a rural Mayan village working on a construction project and leading a Bible school for the neighborhood children.

In January of this year I went to the Dominican Republic with Edge Outreach to install water purifiers. We were in the capital city of Santo Domingo. I was surprised to learn that the city does not provide clean water to its residents. Those who can afford it drink bottled water. Poor people drink the water from the tap and are frequently ill. No one knows how many children die in the poor neighborhoods from water-related illnesses.