If you ask anyone in our village what the biggest problem is, they will say water. Water is easily the biggest challenge in our area. At our house we had an underground cistern dug and installed gutters before we ever moved in. Once the rain started, we were doing pretty well. We could live off the rain water, which helped our community because we were one less family drawing from the limited supply of other water sources and we could give water to others when needed.
Even the well on property has its problem. When we finally got it repaired and fully functional, we learned that the water is extremely salty and there is nothing you can do to remove the salt from the source. We have set up some filtering systems that make it drinkable, but the salt still causes other problems. To make matters worse, as time went on, we noticed that our cistern water was not lasting as long as expected.
We discussed options with a water engineer and came up with a plan. This water engineer and his team can dig a well in 4 weeks for only about $3,000. Also, salty water in one well does not mean that another well nearby will be salty. Since we already have an above ground tank and our house is up hill from the other well, we hired this water engineer to dig a well behind our house. This would be a good test location to see if we could find water that isn’t salty, especially since our house lies between the well on property and the nearest village well outside our property.
I admit I was a bit nervous throughout the process because a giant hole in your back yard presents some dangers. They made it almost to the end without any problems. On June 15, I was sitting inside at the table working and mostly tuning out all the noise in the backyard. With welders, planters, well construction, and everything else going on, one would go crazy if you didn’t learn to tune things out. Fortunately, 10 years as a high school teacher made me pretty good at tuning things out. :)
It only took one word to grab all of my attention…”you probably need stitches.” Immediately, I was up. Did someone just say stitches?
To help you understand, let me explain the process a little. One man is lowered down into the whole to dig. This huge bucket is lowered down and he fills it with the dirt and rocks that he breaks up. When the bucket is ready, he gives a signal and the other men crank the bucket back up. They empty the bucket and then send it back down. When his turn is over, he is brought up and another guy goes down to take a turn.
So, one was down in the hole digging. At this point, they were at 82 feet. The men up top had emptied the bucket and were going to send it back down. Unfortunately, when the guy was going to attach the handle to the hook, he missed and dropped the bucket. The bucket was now dropping 82 feet straight down and he could do nothing to stop it. The men at the top did not yell out or say anything; they just grabbed their heads and listened for the crash.
Now, you might be thinking, “why didn’t they yell out to warn the guy at the bottom?” Imagine the speed of a falling bucket that weighs nearly 20 pounds when it’s empty. This bucket is falling 82 feet into a whole that is only about 5 feet wide. Even in their instant reaction, these men knew that to yell out could actually hurt their friend worse. If they yelled, he would have looked up to see what the problem was and probably would not have had time to react before that bucket landed on his face. So, they remained quiet and waited. Sure enough, the man was bent over busting up the ground when the bucket struck him. There was a loud yell, but he then gave the signal that he was ok. When they brought him from the hole, he had a gash in the back of his head where the edge of the bucket had struck.
I got the first aid kit and Floyd cleaned the area. Of course, it was half way into the cleaning when I remembered we are in Africa and Floyd wasn’t wearing any gloves. Fortunately, he hadn’t actually touched the wound. :/ The man didn’t want to go to the clinic and we have some experience that taught us that super glue works just fine for closing a wound if no skin is missing. Floyd super glued the man’s wound and he was ready to go back to work. Fortunately, it was about lunch time, so we told him to take the break but not to go to sleep.
After lunch, there was a little play time. Floyd decided he had to go down the hole himself. I admit, I was not really on board with that, but he was set on it. They lowered him down and back up without any issues. Then, just a few hours later they struck water at 86 feet! There were shouts of excitement and then the work continued. It was another 2 days before they were deep enough to sample it, but guess what…NO SALT! The water is clean and refreshing!
You see, once they hit water, they have to dig about 10 more feet. This is even more difficult because they have to scoop out water as they go so that the worker doesn’t drown. Of course, the other concern is that the walls can cave in because the soil is so soft. It brings hazard pay to mind. :)
Unfortunately, on June 18th we had a huge rain storm that lasted about 6 hours. They had already bricked about 37 feet of the well walls because the bricking helps prevent the dirt from falling in and clogging the bottom, and helps give stability. This rain storm caused all 37 feet of bricks to fall in. This set them back a few days, but they finally finished and capped the well on June 25 at a total of 92 feet deep!
On a related note, we all know that God’s timing is best. That rain storm on June 18th filled our cistern to the very top. We were calling everyone to bring their jerricans to fill with water because our gutters were still flowing and we had nowhere else to put the water. In our area, you can’t let gallons and gallons of clean rain water go to waste!
On Friday we headed out of town for the weekend, so none of our water was used. When we returned on Sunday evening, we found that our cistern was only half full. Because the well is nearby, Franco (the water engineer) could see what was happening. Water was leaking into the well at about 37 feet down. The water was rapidly leaking out of our cistern. Floyd had suspected for some time that there was a problem, but it was now worse.
So, on Friday, the water engineer examined the cistern and had a best and worst case scenario. After draining out all of the water, his crew busted into the wall to confirm what repair was needed. Fortunately, it wasn’t the worst case scenario. In plastering the walls, the original builder had used sand that came from a location with clay soil. Apparently, this clay component causes a cracking problem and one wall had cracked already. It will take about a week to repair and then hopefully we’ll be done with our water problems!
Thank the Lord we have been able to find solutions to these problems! Now that we know we can find clean water, join us in praying for the Lord to provide funding to dig a new well next to the school. The water engineer says the trees in that area are a good indicator that the water won't be salty and it's up hill like ours.
Even the well on property has its problem. When we finally got it repaired and fully functional, we learned that the water is extremely salty and there is nothing you can do to remove the salt from the source. We have set up some filtering systems that make it drinkable, but the salt still causes other problems. To make matters worse, as time went on, we noticed that our cistern water was not lasting as long as expected.
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| This is the team! |
I admit I was a bit nervous throughout the process because a giant hole in your back yard presents some dangers. They made it almost to the end without any problems. On June 15, I was sitting inside at the table working and mostly tuning out all the noise in the backyard. With welders, planters, well construction, and everything else going on, one would go crazy if you didn’t learn to tune things out. Fortunately, 10 years as a high school teacher made me pretty good at tuning things out. :)
It only took one word to grab all of my attention…”you probably need stitches.” Immediately, I was up. Did someone just say stitches?
 |
| This is a small part of the huge amount of dirt removed. |
So, one was down in the hole digging. At this point, they were at 82 feet. The men up top had emptied the bucket and were going to send it back down. Unfortunately, when the guy was going to attach the handle to the hook, he missed and dropped the bucket. The bucket was now dropping 82 feet straight down and he could do nothing to stop it. The men at the top did not yell out or say anything; they just grabbed their heads and listened for the crash.
 |
| This was the man in the hole and the bucket that landed on him. |
Now, you might be thinking, “why didn’t they yell out to warn the guy at the bottom?” Imagine the speed of a falling bucket that weighs nearly 20 pounds when it’s empty. This bucket is falling 82 feet into a whole that is only about 5 feet wide. Even in their instant reaction, these men knew that to yell out could actually hurt their friend worse. If they yelled, he would have looked up to see what the problem was and probably would not have had time to react before that bucket landed on his face. So, they remained quiet and waited. Sure enough, the man was bent over busting up the ground when the bucket struck him. There was a loud yell, but he then gave the signal that he was ok. When they brought him from the hole, he had a gash in the back of his head where the edge of the bucket had struck.
I got the first aid kit and Floyd cleaned the area. Of course, it was half way into the cleaning when I remembered we are in Africa and Floyd wasn’t wearing any gloves. Fortunately, he hadn’t actually touched the wound. :/ The man didn’t want to go to the clinic and we have some experience that taught us that super glue works just fine for closing a wound if no skin is missing. Floyd super glued the man’s wound and he was ready to go back to work. Fortunately, it was about lunch time, so we told him to take the break but not to go to sleep.
 |
| That bucket is hanging over a hole 82 feet deep and Floyd is climbing in! |
You see, once they hit water, they have to dig about 10 more feet. This is even more difficult because they have to scoop out water as they go so that the worker doesn’t drown. Of course, the other concern is that the walls can cave in because the soil is so soft. It brings hazard pay to mind. :)
Unfortunately, on June 18th we had a huge rain storm that lasted about 6 hours. They had already bricked about 37 feet of the well walls because the bricking helps prevent the dirt from falling in and clogging the bottom, and helps give stability. This rain storm caused all 37 feet of bricks to fall in. This set them back a few days, but they finally finished and capped the well on June 25 at a total of 92 feet deep!
On a related note, we all know that God’s timing is best. That rain storm on June 18th filled our cistern to the very top. We were calling everyone to bring their jerricans to fill with water because our gutters were still flowing and we had nowhere else to put the water. In our area, you can’t let gallons and gallons of clean rain water go to waste!
On Friday we headed out of town for the weekend, so none of our water was used. When we returned on Sunday evening, we found that our cistern was only half full. Because the well is nearby, Franco (the water engineer) could see what was happening. Water was leaking into the well at about 37 feet down. The water was rapidly leaking out of our cistern. Floyd had suspected for some time that there was a problem, but it was now worse.
So, on Friday, the water engineer examined the cistern and had a best and worst case scenario. After draining out all of the water, his crew busted into the wall to confirm what repair was needed. Fortunately, it wasn’t the worst case scenario. In plastering the walls, the original builder had used sand that came from a location with clay soil. Apparently, this clay component causes a cracking problem and one wall had cracked already. It will take about a week to repair and then hopefully we’ll be done with our water problems!
 |
| As they pumped water out of the cistern for repairs, everyone worked together to save as much as we could (The small blue bucket is used for watering plants. The big can had the clean water flowing into it.). We couldn't let it go to waste! |
Thank the Lord we have been able to find solutions to these problems! Now that we know we can find clean water, join us in praying for the Lord to provide funding to dig a new well next to the school. The water engineer says the trees in that area are a good indicator that the water won't be salty and it's up hill like ours.
K said he use to dig wells in CA so he understands but he wasn't digging with a shovel and bucket. It has to be sort of fun to be living like people lived years ago. As always love hearing from you.
ReplyDeleteI love your updates!
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