WATER - The Gift of LIFE

Each year 3.4 million people, mostly children, die from water-related diseases; that is one person every eight seconds.

In Africa alone, 85 percent of all illness in children under 5 are caused by waterborne diseases. No matter the country or continent, water is the most precious gift.


That’s why Mission:Water for LIFE is drilling wells in the most desolate areas of the world.

Jessica's Story:

Dear Friends,

Only a few times in life do we ever get to meet a real life HERO who, unbeknownst to most of us, provides so much through extraordinary means for others on this planet.

Missionary Sr. Jessica Alinsub is one of those unsung heroes. Raised as the second eldest of nine in an extremely poor and small Philippine village, Jessica was abandoned by her mother at the age of eight. Each evening she would be sent to the local marketplace to pick up scraps left behind by merchants from the dirt and mud. Jessica was forced to literally fight off other children who were sent to glean for their own meals so that she could bring back as much as possible and prepare a meal for her father and siblings. When unsuccessful, she would suffer severe beatings as a consequence.

Living in a makeshift shack of cardboard and local scrap wood, Jessica would endure the most horrible of conditions, unimaginable to most of us. Rape, incest and beatings were daily occurrences to this little girl, and, when she would run for help to the local police, she would time and time again be returned home for even worse punishment. When asked how Jessica survived this horrible time in her life she responded, "It was in the SACK."

She describes "the sack" as a burlap-type bag, much like those used to carry coffee beans. As punishment, Jessica would be beaten, placed in the bag in temperatures upwards of 100 degrees and pulled up to dangle from a tree. It was as horrible as it sounds. Yet Jessica says that, somehow, she felt safe "in the sack." She tells the story of how one day a group of Missionaries came to their village. She recalls Pat Robertson, host of the 700 Club, bringing candy and other small gifts to the village children, teaching them songs and telling them stories about Jesus Christ. So, while in the sack, she would recall the stories of Robertson and the others, and she would begin singing the songs the missionaries taught her and the other children. She says, "In the sack is where I met Jesus!"

Eventually, Jessica's mother, who had come to America when she abandoned her family, sent for Jessica. But, sadly, it was only to serve as a housekeeper and babysitter for her new family.

After meeting Sr. Jessica and corresponding with her for more than a year, I invited her to come and meet some of the challenged children I worked with while stationed at the Federal Housing Authority in Long Branch, New Jersey. We sent her a ticket and she came. Jessica had a special gift and bonded with children from the first meeting. She understood them in a way that only someone with a child's heart could. Eventually, I asked her to stay and work with the children, and she has been serving with our ministry for almost thirteen years. During this time, Jessica has achieved remarkable things - things that only a true hero could possibly do.

One day in 2000, Jessica fell ill and was hospitalized. She had no health insurance, and was about to undergo exploratory surgery. However, the physicians could not agree on what type of surgery she needed. Was it gallbladder, liver, pancreas? They did not know. So, as sick as she was, Jessica left the hospital and began what can only be described as a miraculous journey to recovery.

One day Police Chief Joe Blewett from the Borough of Highlands mentioned to me that he had seen Sr. Jessica walking across a local bridge. When I asked her about it, she simply said, "Don't believe everything you hear." Some months later, the police chief mentioned again that he had seen her, this time running "backwards" in a neighboring town. When asked once again about what the chief had seen, she replied, "I told you, don't believe everything you hear!" One year later, Sr. Jessica Alinsub would go on to finish the Iron-Man Triathlon at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

When asked what drove her to such extremes, Jessica simply said, "I, too, must make a difference in the lives of the unfortunate, this is my way of doing that." You see, Jessica found out, through careful research, that there are still children without clean drinking water on this planet, and that literally thousands of these children are dying each and every day needlessly because the rest of the world is too busy to notice or care. Jessica vowed that very day: "I will drill - not oil for pollution and greed and luxury, but for wells filled with water to give children life." Sr. Jessica Alinsub, along with her other duties, continues to this day to train daily, beyond the understanding of most, and participates in national competition to raise funds so that others, too-often forgotten, will at least have a cup of water.

Jessica truly is a World-Class Hero.