Three new hand pumps have been successfully installed in Cercadillo!
In and of themselves the hand pumps are not that spectacular looking . . .
but there is no denying the beauty of this!
Rick, Ben, Kristen, Kasi, Noé, Stewart and anyone else I’ve forgotten who helped with the previous wells – check out the blue pipes they are inserting. They used super heavy duty PVC pipes for the pump pipes! I’m sure you all have not forgotten the incredibly hard work involved in dropping those metal pipes into the wells, nor the horrible task of trying to pull them back out when there was a problem! (Not to worry, I resisted the temptation to say, “Back in the old days we used really, really heavy METAL pipes. )
Each community who received a hand pump was asked to collect $5000 RD (Approximately $132 USD), a very small portion of the overall cost of the project. What a difference it makes when we work WITH the community and not just give to them!
We witnessed the above scene over and over again in all three sites. These are men of the village mixing cement to form the base around the bottom of the pump. Others carried water. Others made food for the government workers and brought them coffee and water to drink.
When some of the men were carrying water for cement mixing yesterday, I was doing my usual cheerleader routine. “Wow, thank so much for your help! You’re not just helping your family, you’re helping the community, etc, etc.” (BTW, they won’t let me carry water anymore. I’ve tried!) Crystal, one of our four year olds was hanging on me at the time and said very softy, “That’s my dad.” I said something like, “He’s working hard for you to have water, isn’t he? Maybe you could thank him.” She smiled from ear to ear and every time her father walked back with two more buckets of water she said, “Thanks, Dad” and then turned to me and said, “That’s my dad!”
Community transformation. Sometimes it seems like a very, very, very slow process and then there are times like this week . . .
On Sunday we are having celebrations in all three locations to thank God for His provisions yet again for Cercadillo.
To God Be The Glory, Great Things He Hath Done!
Praise God!! That running water is such a Beautiful site!
My favorite picture is the one of the village men working together for their community…. a baby step in what the grown ups call “community development”….a baby step as we earn the trust and respect of the men….someday, I pray the Crystal’s dad will be open to learning about The One who called Ina to the village.