The Cercadillo Project

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!

Just look at that PVC pipe, would you?  I never thought of PVC pipe as a thing of beauty until the last few days of well drilling.  There are now three pvc pipes like this sticking out the ground in Cercadillo, just waiting for the pump installation team to come next week.

Slightly over a year ago we started the process of working with a government agency to help with wells in Cercadillo.  Today the third was drilled.  Again today a very large supply of water was found at about 80 feet.

Notice the rocks in the hands of one of the drillers.  From my vast experience in well drilling (3 wells in 3 days :)), I can tell you that when the drill hits water and rocks start flying out of the hole that this is a very good sign.  Again today the workers were very pleased with the amount of water they found and the quality of the ground around it.

There have definitely been some heroes in this process:

1. South Coast Community Church in MA has heavily funded this project

2.  INDRHI – a Dominican government agency

3. My Three Favorite Well Drillers – Evaristo, Domingo and Dionicio

4. Bowin Tichenor and Josue

FYI – Josue is not adding missile launchers to my vehicle.  We were just getting ready to return some unneeded pipe to the hardware store.  That roof rack really comes in handy!

5.  The people of Cercadillo who have waited much longer than I have for this day to come.

6.  All of you who have participated in this with your prayers and giving.

We still have a ways to go next week.  Dropping 100 to 120  feet of very heavy metal pipe into each of these wells is quite a task to be done before the hand pumps themselves can be installed. But hopefully by the end of next week there will be water accessible to three more neighborhoods.  Please continue to pray.  We’ve seen miracles this week and I’m looking forward to what next week will bring, aren’t you?