For an African village in the highlands of equatorial Cameroon, drinking water was a perennial problem. Six hundred men, women and children relied on a small spring of muddy water for drinking, washing, cooking, and keeping their live stock of chickens, goats and cows alive.

Drilling a well, said the experts, was not a workable idea; there was no way to reach the village through tropical foliage with the heavy equipment needed, and wells in the region went dry in the summer months.

The spring ran all year round, but the area around it was nothing more than a muddy swamp and the water was frequently contaminated, bringing sickness to many in the village known as Emana.

That's when CBN WorldReach and Operation Blessing moved in with the technicians who could convert the water source into clean, healthy spring water. The area was excavated and layers of natural rock, gravel and sand filters were laid down. The filter layers will require no maintenance or repair. Soon the spring water had trickled up through the filters and was piped into a concrete trough. The water runs 24 hours a day and is a plentiful supply for everyone in the village. The water is so pure and clean that other villages were soon trekking through the rain forests to fill up their containers.

Two government ministers from the Cameroon capital, Yaounde, came to dedicate the new water system and to examine the simple, safe and effective design introduced by CBN. Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, was informed of the project and has now formally invited CBN WorldReach and Operation Blessing to extend the project into other villages of Cameroon which rely on underground springs for their communal water supply.