Dominican Sr. Anna Tran Thi Thanh Thu bottles water treated with ultraviolet light for clients at her convent in Binh Phuoc Province. (GSR/Joachim Pham)
Dominican Sr. Agnes Bui Thi My spends nearly four hours every day carefully cleaning water bottles and refilling them from a water-purification system based at her convent.
After work, from about 5 to 8 p.m., local people come to pick up bottled water for their daily use and return empty bottles.
"A clean water supply for local people is one of our ministries in the area," My said. "We aim to provide quality water for people to keep them in good health as a way of bearing witness to Christian values."
She said clean water is a common natural resource and all people should have the right of access to it.
She said water from wells is often adulterated with lime and magnesium and not suitable for human health. Most wells are depleted in the dry season, and rivers are polluted with garbage and waste from local people.
