A Cup of Cold Water: ORU Student Helps Bring Life-Giving Resource to Tanzania

When Victor Mavika (Mechanical Engineering, 2019) first visited the Sonjo tribe in his native Tanzania three years ago, he had no idea he'd eventually be bringing them clean water. He was just there to interpret for a short-term missions team.

"I was so interested in that," Mavika says, "because sometimes simple things can be used to change people's lives."

It wasn't long before Mavika came to ORU to study mechanical engineering. While here, he attended a conference in St. Louis and was introduced to an organization called New Life International, which works to provide safe, clean water for the developing world.

Mavika put the two together and soon began his campaign to provide New Life International's purifiers to the Sonjo tribe back home in Tanzania – a goal he began to see come to fruition this past summer when the clean water systems were brought to the first of twelve Sonjo villages.

"It's rewarding," Mavika says. "You feel you've done something important to bring change into people's life. They were thankful and they wanted more of those!"

Fortunately, Mavika was already planning on bringing more. In addition to another clean water system already provided by ORU, Mavika is now working in earnest to bring not just clean water to area, but also something else.

"I didn't go there for sharing the gospel, but people are ready because you've touched somewhere, a part of their life that is very crucial," Mavika says. "They participate in the work, so it helps as you are talking, you can put in some stuff [about the gospel]. And the way you live your life is an example. Now that there's already a purifier, maybe something else can come."