Local missionary leaving for Kenya

This June, when most people are looking forward to summer vacation to relax and slow down, take a road trip or bask in the warming rays of the sun, Adel Torres is planning to feed children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, help build a water system infrastructure or work in a medical clinic in a community where death from malaria and typhoid are everyday occurrences.

Torres, the wife of Jose Torres, the pastor of the Corning, Orland and Willows Seventh Day Adventist Church, was just 17 when she became a missionary with the church. She’s home schooled children in Albania, worked in a medical clinic in Nepal and taught health to first- and third-graders in the Philippines.

At the same time, Torres spreads God’s word and offers hope to those who know only sorrow.

“I long for the second coming and a world without pain,” said Torres, now 26. “The only sure way for that to happen is to spread the message that I have so everyone will know.”

Torres is leaving for another mission later this month to aid a community in bringing potable water and food to the people of the villages on Rusinga Island in Kenya. where the average lifespan of the villagers is 38.  

“These people don’t have a fresh water supply,” Torres said. “Everyone is drinking contaminated water and diseases like cholera and typhoid are spreading like wildfire.”

Torres will leave for Rusinga on June 29 and spend three weeks with Living Waters International, an organization that has already made amazing progress in the community in less than two years.

“There is now a center that feeds more than 200 orphans,” Torres said. “The center also takes care of widows who cannot care for themselves.”

Rusinga Island is situated on the eastern shores of Lake Victoria. Torres said there is bountiful water, however, it is highly contaminated with bacteria and parasites, making the lake water one of the largest contributors to the high mortality rate.

The missionary organization has overcome obstacles with funding, materials, manpower, weather and sickness to install nearly two miles of underground water pipe that supplies much of the community. The missionaries also built two water purification units that are ready for full implementation and arranged for 13,000 gallons of water storage capacity by installing seven newly purchased or refurbished water tanks.

Drought and famine have also plagued the area for years and the land, without rain, is not able to sustain a variety of nutritious food sources.

Torres said a special drip irrigation system has been developed and works well to provide enough water to irrigate garden spots that supply fresh vegetables. The systems are inexpensive and require a minimal amount of water, which is available from Lake Victoria.

But Torres said there are still many families in the village who are in desperate need of irrigation systems, medical care and heath education.

“I’m looking forward to going,” she said. “It’s amazing work. There is so much suffering. I could never be content with just being a consumer. I know I can’t relieve all the suffering in the world, but what I can do is where I find fulfillment.”

The Seventh Day Adventist Church will be having a yard sale to help with Torres’ travel and necessary expenses.

The yard sale will be held all day (no specific time) on June 19 (Thursday), 20 (Friday) and 22 (Sunday) at the Willows Seventh Day Adventist Church located at 543 First Ave.

If you would like to donate items for the sale or make a donation for the mission, you may contact Juananas Odell at 834-8627 or Pastor Jose Torres at 736-3871.