After travelling to London then south to Entebbe, Uganda, I caught a taxi in the middle of the night to Kampala, Uganda.  Spent the next two days trying to find pipes and fittings to be able to hand drill, case the well and finishing building a low cost pump.  I met up with Will, an awesome young man doing an internship/trip with E3 ministries.  Although we would be working in Southern Sudan, Kampala would be the nearest location to get parts.  We loaded everything on a truck which was going to make the 8 hour drive north.  They wouldn't let us ride with the goods.  Fortunately a small airline flys planes close to Kajo Kaji, Sudan for cheap.  We hopped into a puddle jumper the next morning on our way to Sudan where our parts should be waiting.

Ah, but, this is Africa.

We were picked up by a gracious local pastor named David Kaya, who would host us.  We discovered our parts were "not quite there yet".  Other groups were there working on various projects so we helped them out and went out to find a suitable location to try hand drilling.  We rented a motorcycle from a young man to get around during the trip.  It became apparent this area would probably not be suitable to hand drilling.  We were around 6000 ft elevation with many rock outcroppings.  Well depths were in the 150-200' range. 

We waited for our parts......for 4 days.  Never quite understanding what the problem was, but at least they finally arrived.  The 4 days gave me the opportunity to meet Stephen Huber with Water Missions International.  They had been doing drilling with a portable drill rig.  What a blessing.  We were able to establish a back-up plan for getting a well into the village.  This took a lot of the pressure of us trying to drill through the layers of rock and then probably having to leave without getting a well in!

After talking with the village chief where we would drill, we gathered up a group of men and started drilling.  3'.  Then we hit rock.  Hoping it was just a ribbon layer of rock we could punch through we kept pounding.  We were moving about an 1" per hour.  Our hopes of getting through the rock in a day didn't happen.  We stayed in rock for 3 days. 

Normally we would move and try a new hole location since the rock could be isolated.  But since the geography didn't suggest anything different and we knew Stephen would be able to come and drill with his rig, we stayed with it just to see if we could get through.  No such luck!

Will was going to be staying for another month so he kept going for a few more days while I finalized a contract with Water Missions to drill.   At this point the villagers were quite disappointed.  They knew there was a lot of rock in the area, but felt we could get through the top and then it would be ok.  But after working for 5 days and having only gone 7', they were exausted.  The decision was made to stop.

It was shortly after this, that Stephen showed up with his truck.  He and his team were able to setup and drill through160' of multiple layers of rock to reach water.  The villagers were ecstatic.  They would not have to walk to the shallow mud hole they were fetching water from anymore!

In the midst of frustration with parts not showing up, hitting rock and breaking bits while we tried to drill the rock,  there was laughter.  There was breaking down of barriers.  There were discussions of why we came to help.  There were friendships made.  There was God.

That is why we do what we do!  It is with your help that it becomes possilble.  So we cannot thank you enough!

Our hopes are to go back to Sudan and move locations a little more west into the Darfur region to see if hand drilling will work in that area.  We wait to see what doors open.

Dave

(The video of hand drilling on the website was in Kajo Keji)

H2O is excited to partner with a bunch of great organizations,  Christ for Humanity, Water4 and E3 in an effort to offer clean water and hope to the people of southern Sudan.  We'll be in a village called Kajo Keji which is just across the Ugandan border.  Our goal is to introduce the baptist well drilling technique (started by Terry Waller of WaterforAllInternational) along with inexpensive pumps designed by Water4. 

We are hoping to teach a local Sudanese team how to drill wells, purchase pvc parts to make a pump and install the pumps.  We are hoping to help this team then go out to other villages to teach there.  The goal is to make the wells and pumps inexpensive enough that individual families or groups of families would be able to have their own well.  Since they have ownership in it, they would want and  be able to take care of it.

We'll post pictures and give an update when we return.

Thanks to all who have given to make this possible!

Dave

Great article!  Here's a link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece

Dave

In recent years, I began feeling uncomfortable with how Christians were viewed by the world.  More specifically, I wondered how I was viewed?   Do they see me as part of a political power house whom the parties court to gain a significant voting block.  Or do they see me as a “righteous watchdog” who keeps an eye on the great sins of the world.  Or, as I would hope, do they see Christ’s love through my actions.    Realistically, it is probably some combination of the above.  Ultimately, I cannot control what the world thinks, but I can control whether or not I am doing what God has called me to do.

Christ said we should “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Secondly, love your neighbors as yourselves”.  I felt compelled to be more proactive in how I loved my neighbors.  As I meditated on how Christ loved us, I saw it was through action.  It was through relationship.  Like they say, “Love is a verb”.

I was unsure exactly what that looked like in my own life, but some very wise words I remember my father speaking kept coming to mind.   “S**t or get off the pot”  (Sorry if I have offended anyone with my language.  If you have been offended, however, I hope you were more offended by the facts than by this!)