South Austin Haiti Living Water Update – Day 6 – October 9
Today was a good day. For the Drill Team it started a little slowly having to weld a larger drill bit so that we could use to help us cut through the rock we had encountered the previous day. This allowed us to ream the hole a couple of inches wider so that the well casing and screen were able to go down to the entire depth we had drilled. The next step was to then start clearing the well of the mud we had used for the drilling. This is done by blowing air into the pipe forcing water out through a large pipe we had attached at the surface. After a few minutes of clearing the mud we could see water from the actual aquifer start to produce water (which can be seen from the attached picture). This will run through the night as it clears out all mud and debris until we have nothing but pure clean water.
Each day when they Hygiene Team is finished with classes, crafts and songs, we play. One of the highlights at playtime for the past 2 days was when we brought out the sparkly nail polish. We were crowded with 30-50 hands pushing their way in to be decorated. Then they try to scrape off the polish so that they can ask for it again. They so crave the attention and touch.
One of the hygiene classes uses glitter to teach about germs. The leader puts on some hand sanitizer and rubs glitter into it when the children cannot see what she is doing. Then she proceeds to shake hands and encourages everyone to greet each other in this way. When the process is done, she asks that the children look at their hands and they see how the glitter (germs) have spread to everyone in the group without their realizing it. This is such a visual tool for the children to be reminded how they spread germs.
We also had the pleasure of meeting Willys Geffrard who is the Haiti Country Director for Living Water International. What a great pleasure to have him join us the rest of the week. With Willys riding with us to each location we learned so much about the Haitians, the culture, the growth and challenges of this area.
Tomorrow we will return to cement in the casing and the well foundation which will then allow us to install the pump and finalize the well.