Nawile, Burkina Faso - Deep Water Well Rehab
1st Deep Well Rehab in Nawile, Burkina Faso (January 12, 2010)
From: The Richter Family
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Primary Email: richter6family@gmail.com
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Mailing Address:06 BP 10235, Ouagadougou 06, Burkina Faso, West Africa
Website: www.dagara.org
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Nawile is a small village off the main road in a remote place where more
than 700 people live. They are all cultivators of the earth surviving
daily by growing their own food. This year the food situation is
difficult due to a less than normal rainfall. Common illnesses are
diarrhea, malaria, and stomach problems. There are only two deep wells
(both of which are broken) and only two open hand dug wells (which has
limited water) to serve this entire community.
Unable to find adequate water, people resort to gathering water from the
low creek beds knowing that the water will make them sick. It's sad to
see people gathering water from the same place that animals drink and
urinate.
When this source of water dries up by the end of January, the women are
forced to travel to the next dry creek bed in a neighboring village 9
kilometers away! (That's 5.4 miles!) Early in the morning, around 6am,
the women travel with their water containers 9 km to gather water.
After a rest from the searing sun and heat, they start back with the
water on their heads another 9 km returning to their homes at 4pm. A 10
hour trip to get water that we wouldn't put in our toilets! In our
pre-rehab interview with village leaders we also learned that there is
an outbreak of pink eye that is affecting 319 children and adults in the
village. Without sufficient money and access to medicines this epidemic
has been going on for months. How humbling and sad it is to learn of
their plight, and yet how exciting it is to be used by God to bring
about the restoration of an old broken well.
On January 12th, 2010 people started arriving at the well early in the
morning in expectation of those who were coming to repair the well which
had been broken for a couple of years. When we arrived there were close
to 200 people waiting for us (nothing like a little crowd pressure on
our first rehab). Members of the church in Nawile were gathered under a
nearby tree singing songs of praise in their native tongue to the beat
of drums. They had carried water and dolo (a local drink from millet
grain) and peanuts for those who had come, some from villages 20 km
away. It was quite a scene. Matt Durkee, field administrator, with
Friends in Action International from Ouagadougou had come to help me and
to provide services for which I didn't have the equipment such as
cleaning out the well and taking deep water samples. What we thought
was going to be a simple quick rehab turned into an all day job!
After greeting village leaders and praying together for God's blessing
that we could get this well fixed, we began pulling out the old broken
pump a little after 9am. Church leaders from various villages had
arrived and we quickly put them to work learning the various jobs needed
to do the repair. So, we were repairing the well as well as doing on
the job training. Somewhere around 11:30am the old rusty pipes were out
of the hole. It wasn't hard to see the problem; several pipes had holes
pierced in them from rust, and the foot valve was clogged up with lots
of chunks of rust.
Matt then measured the water level and well depth which turned out to be
very encouraging. There was a lot of water down there, good water.
The static water level was at 12 meters and the well depth was 36
meters. After inserting a submersible pump powered by a generator, we
were pumping water out of the well at better than 1 liter/second. To
our surprise the water recharge rate was great; after an initial draw
down, and pumping for an entire hour, the water level only went down
12 cm! Matt roughly calculated a water volume production rate of 5
cubic meters per hour. Praise the Lord! It sure was a good feeling to
know there was water in the hole, and plenty of it before installing all
the new materials.
After a short break we were back at the well head installing the new
stainless steel piston and pipes for the India Mark II pump unit. It
took a little while for everyone to get into the routine, but soon the
pipes were coming and we had a good system going. We ended up only
having to install 10 pipes for a working depth of 30 meters trying to
remember that the worst of the dry season is yet to come. When we got
to the last pipe and was ready to put on the pump head, the pump rod was
too long. No problem; just cut the rod and rethread it, right?
Stainless steel is very tough and we couldn't get the threader tool
started. Now, we didn't know what to do. Replace the last rod and try
again?
We called one of our supply contacts who said we needed to pull the
entire system and tighten the stainless pump rods all the way on the
threads to reduce the length above. So, a little reluctantly, we
started pulling the entire well again, unloosing the pipe and tightening
the pump rods more fully, reapplying the horse hair joint material and
connecting. However, when we finally finished with that proposition we
still had the same problem! The pump rod was too long!
Another call revealed that the pipe man had forgotten to give me a
special piece to account for the difference in length. Now, we were
faced at possibly not being able to complete the well due to a lack of
materials, this after having installed the well "twice". My heart sank
at the thought of all these people who had come to see the well repaired
and the church who had sung out their hearts all day in anticipation,
and all our volunteers who worked tirelessly in the hot sun.
Like we had done many times already, we stopped to pray and ask for
God's blessing and guidance. Despite my feelings of desperation, God
was still at work inspiring one of our volunteers with another solution.
The solution was to use a pump rod that still had the threads on it,
which made it possible to start the threading tool and thread the rod
all the way down to the correct height. So after that arduous process,
we were back on track and ready to mount the pump head. The villagers,
sensing our optimism and progress, began singing louder than before and
crying out shouts to God. As the sun was sinking below the horizon of
the African plain, a church leader from Nawile pumped the well for the
very first time bringing out an abundant supply of water. Everyone
broke out in praise, including me with shouts of hallelujah, that God
had prevailed and enabled us to repair the well. Water was flowing
again! Clean, fresh water! It was a joyous moment that will forever be
remembered in my mind.
A great team effort, perseverance despite difficulty, and an eager
willingness to serve brought forth a truly successful 1st rehab!
Hallelujah! We prayed and sang in Dagara for another 30 minutes and
took pictures until it got too dark to see. Night had fallen, but not
without God bringing water and hope to an entire village!
The next day I traveled out to Nawile to observe how things were going
with the new pump. When I arrived at the village center, I was greeted
by smiling faces offering calabashes of clean water! At the well, there
were about 10 women gathering water and washing clothes.
It was so awesome to see those 40 liter basins of sparkling clear water!
At the "Worship at the Well Event" the first Sunday after the rehab,
Sodire, the local evangelist, reported that there were 12 new members
added to the church that day (the president of the water well committee
happened to be the first one!), and 13 families that requested Bible
studies in their homes with other family members. It was a great
worship event attended by several hundred people. Some were drawn to
what was going on. Others came out of respect for what had been given.
As they came to worship they laid down their basins in long lines
flowing from the water well. Then, after services, waiting one after
the other, the people pumped clean fresh water for their families.
Everyone in the village of Nawile is so happy about having clean water
available. Evangelism is exploding. The faith and witness of the
church grows everyday. And to top it off, people from the village of
Namore (a neighboring village) had come to the worship at the well event
requesting that someone come to their village to tell them the good
news. They wanted a church in their village. So, the following Sunday
(January 31st) Sodire, along with Nawile church members, and myself went
to Namore to present the Word in that village for the first time!
Clean water was the immediate need that opened their eyes even more
clearly to the Living Water, Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining us in
praise to our wonderful God who is mighty to save and do the
unimaginable, the impossible, so that the lost can be saved.
On behalf
of the folks in Nawile and our mission team, I want to thank everyone
who had a part in this well rehab, especially to The Bell Family
Foundation who funded this particular project and to Living Water
International for their training and expertise! When you look at these
pictures I hope you will all feel and know that you too made a valuable
contribution to this effort. Without your support, prayers, and
encouragement we would not be able to serve in this way in Burkina Faso.
We're all part of one big team, making a difference in this world, one
good deed at a time, in Jesus name! Bless you.
Working Together For Those Who Thirst For Something More,
Geoffrey Richter and Family
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