South Austin Haiti Living Water Update – Day 5 – October 8, 2013
Today was a tough day for the drill team. We encountered several setbacks which caused delays to our drilling process. First we had issues with our hydraulic drill. The drill itself stripped from its casing requiring us to have a several hour delay as we worked to rebuild it and put it back together with the tools and resources we had. Several of the guys on the team really did a good job of interacting with some of the kids from the area.
We have three goals on this trip. Find a way for the community to have fresh water, teach them about hygiene, and personally connect with people from Haiti. Even though there is a language barrier it is exciting to see the spiritual connections being made as well.
After replacing the drill and getting it running again we were able to drill down to the depth required to hit the aquifer we were targeting which was around 95 feet with the aquifer around 85 feet. Drilling a well requires several stages.
- Set up
- Drilling the well
- Ream the well hole which widens the hole in preparation for putting in casing to keep the well from collapsing
- Setting Casing and pipe screen to filter water
- Clear the well
- Develop the well
- Final set up
- Dedication of the well with the community
Our second roadblock of the day occurred when we were setting the casing and encountered a layer of rock which kept us from continuing for the day. This would eventually extend our ability to finish the well on Thursday for the dedication so our plan is now to have it completed by Friday.
The women on the hygiene team had a great day interacting with the kids. At one point the drill team heard this loud noise of kids at the school. As we noise got louder, the drill team checks down the road only to see the entire group of kids skipping down the road with one of the hygiene team members (Dana). What a great site to see. The excitement only spilled over at the well site with singing and dancing with the kids and several of the drill team men as others continued to try to free the casing to go deeper into the well.
Yes a frustrating day in one sense but an awesome day in another sense. Interacting with this community and reaching out and ministering to them is what this is all about. The well is the door to help get our foot in the door.
It is important to pay attention to the palm dealt, but additionally what is happening the desk.