Rick and Sherry are home . . . but Well-Drilling Continues

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Rick

What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been! We arrived back in the States on the 20th of May and it seems we haven’t stopped since we touched down. The best news is that Bosco, Solomon and Moses are continuing to drill – even with us back here in California! Since we left, they’ve completed 2 new boreholes and are now in process on a series of 10 wells in a region called Amuria.

Here’s a photo of Solomon demonstrating a temporary hand pump. This well is the second one in a community where the main borehole dug by a large NGO recently failed! This well will serve several hundred people who would have been without clean water.

Now, the team is working in Amuria. What is interesting is that this area is one that has a significant amount of regulation and the local government officials take great pride in making sure the people and aquifers are adequately protected. That’s why the local District Water Officer (in the white shirt) got personally involved in this test well!

amuria-1800x600

So what’s next for Rick and Sherry? We’re back in California, processing the past 5 months in Uganda and pondering what might be on the horizon for us. What it looks like at this point is an extended season for both of us working here in the US. Shoot us a note . . . we’d love to catch up with you!

Obule Revisited

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Rick

Yesterday we visited a small village church near the well we completed a couple of weeks ago. Pastor Martin had called and invited us to come and greet the community now utilizing the well. When you “go to church,” you don’t generally expect to be served tea and biscuits (cookies), the service already in full progress with the main congregation in the building worshiping, singing praise songs . . . and just waiting for you to finish your tea; and then a full lunch afterwards. But that’s how the locals roll here, pulling out all the stops for the visitors.

The morning was such a reminder of why we are here. Not because of any special treatment we received, but because of the joy of the people—and the dramatic impact available, clean water can have on their lives. As we were chatting, Martin and Charles (another of the pastors) mentioned in passing that this well is now serving over 700 people daily, and has never once been pumped dry! The only other borehole in the vicinity (a couple of miles away) stopped producing water within a week after the completion of the one we dug! Can you imagine? It’s no wonder that people in the area are asking when we’ll begin the next well.

This inexpensive, hand-dug wells technology has literally become the very thing God is using to save the lives of a multitude in this place. Try to picture hundreds of ladies or children coming to your house, traipsing through your yard or kitchen every single day—sometimes twice every day—walking or on bicycles, lugging at least two and often three or four “5-gallon jerry-cans” to fill with water for their family’s daily use. Pretty staggering isn’t it? I feel so incredibly privileged to have been invited into this work – and humbled by the prayers and support you have sent our way. Thank you!

Water in Obule

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Rick

The work here is progressing, albeit a bit more slowly than I had hoped for. We worked like crazy on the 2nd well at “Thirsty,” now called, “The place where water flows.” We struck out . . . 3 boreholes over almost a 4-week period, each around 55 feet deep and each a dry hole. On the last of the three, we encountered bedrock (solid granite) and had to abandon the hole. I decided we needed to regroup and redesign the drilling bits to accommodate more rock. We have also been looking at some different locations to drill in . . . wanting to expand our knowledge of the local geology and hydrology. Thus, while we have been working on the rock bits, we started drilling in another village about 20 minutes away from Soroti.

(Here, I’m relaxing with Atipo, who adopted me as her mzungu grandpa!) It seemed as though this new place was finally going to be more like what I experienced during my 2 months in Bolivia last summer. We worked for 4 days and steadily proceeded to a depth of just past 24 meters (almost 80 feet). We had started on Monday and on Thursday evening, about 5pm, I was just about to tell the guys to pull up the drill and wait until the morning to continue. Then Charles (one of the local pastors) called Bosco (our lead guy at the left in the photo below) and said, “Bosco, something’s wrong with the drill!” Boy was there! By this time, down in the hole, our drill bit was affixed to a 5 meter long (16+ feet), heavy steel drill stem, to which 7 pieces of pvc pipe were attached. When Bosco pulled up the drill, there were only 6 pieces of pvc pipe – meaning the drill stem and the 7th piece of pvc pipe were still at the bottom of the hole.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sky had darkened within about 10 minutes as we were trying to “find and fish out” the broken drill stem, and the heavens unleashed a fury of hail, followed by torrents of rain – like a hose had been turned on. Then I saw a flash of lightning strike the ground at the end of the field we were working in . . . and the crash of thunder was instant, deafening and so close that if felt like my chest was being crushed. I quickly made an executive decision to literally – and quickly – run from the well site, where we were standing in the open underneath our tripod made from 3 fifteen-foot steel (lightning rod?) pipes. By the time I reached home, I was cold, wet and pretty sure we were going to lose the hole.

The next morning (last Friday), we spent a couple hours fashioning a “fishing tool” (I’ll spare you the details of it’s design) and arrived at the site to find that the local villagers had created their own version of a fishing tool, had located the pipe in the hole and begun to screw it onto what I’ll call “the rescue rod.” We tightened the rod as much as we could, then attached a winch/hoist to the tripod and slowly pulled out the broken pipe. By mid-day, we were back drilling again! Praise the Lord! At 26 meters, we hit bedrock again, so it was clearly time to case the well. The next day (Saturday the 2nd), the villagers backwashed the well and on the following Monday we started conditioning the well. During the conditioning process, it looked like we had more water than we’d seen in any of the boreholes so far. Until. The casing collapsed.

I was afraid we’d lost the well again. The following day we removed the broken casing – at least a portion of it (photo at left). 2 of the 5 casing pipes remained in the bottom of the hole, adding to my fear that we’d lost all the previous work. The guys decided they wanted to try drilling through the broken pipes, despite us being told by Terry (Founder of Water for All) that it wasn’t likely that we’d be able to get past the broken casing.

The guys were right! We were able to get past the broken casing, drilling out nearly all of it, and re-cased the well with newer and stronger pipe at about 23.5 meters! Water is flowing and the community is rejoicing!
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be starting back at “Thirsty,” and beginning new wells in 2 other new locations. So please keep praying!

Reality

Posted on April 10, 2011 by sherry

I was stunned by this picture on so many levels. Her raw, pure, innocent beauty is staggering to behold. It tells a story of a little girl who daily stands at the fence yelling “Ow’re you,” completely oblivious to steel that divides us. When I answer in Ateso, she and her two siblings laugh like there is no tomorrow. She does not realize some day in the near future, her gaiety will be replaced by cold reality. She will stand behind an imaginary blockade, that will ultimately confine–even dictate her life. Innocence.

In so many ways, the barrier will most likely typify her life, and after running into cultural roadblocks a number of times, she will probably succumb. Oh, she will most likely attend school when she is in primary grades. She may soar to the top of her class with her academic giftedness, but this is not enough to keep her in the scholastic system. When money, younger siblings, a growing family, harder times surface, school fees are out of the question, and the new school term begins without her.

She will be ridiculed by her family members until she secures some way of earning her keep to substantiate her lodging, and her meager meals. Otherwise, at the tender age of 13 or so, she may lose her small space on the dirt floor where she lies at night, and will be likely to wander the streets looking for work. Employment is nearly impossible for a young girl, unless she is willing to sell her body, which unfortunately, is probable.

For the equivalent of a dollar or so, she is left alone, unattached, and hollow. Her neediness drives her to seek one who can give her a place to sleep, and perhaps even the promise of daily sustenance.

She is indifferent to her underdeveloped womb that is quickly inhabited by yet another life–born into the web of poverty. And the babies come. She is eventually crushed under the weight of too many mouths to feed.

Her heart races when she hears him stumble into the hovel. His rank breath permeates the hut, and she lays in wait of his wrath.

And the cycle continues.

“Thirsty” Still Needs New Wells!

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Rick

We started on the 2nd well in this community on the 7th of March. It has now been 2 weeks and this well still isn’t yet finished. In fact, we encountered so much difficulty, we’ve actually abandoned the hole and are re-grouping now, needing to re-design the drill bit. While I was in Bolivia, Terry designed a new rock bit that I’m now trying to replicate here in Uganda.

Bosco and Solomon started this well while I was in Kampala with Sherry. In the process of trying to drill, we broke 4 drill bits and have now to this point abandoned 3 holes! The last one was a grand total of 5 meters deep (about 16 feet), where we were finally defeated by the rock I knew this was going to be a long process, learning what materials we need, what the geology is like in various locations, etc. But I didn’t expect it to be this hard!

The good news is that the first well, which inspired the community to change their name, is now supplying an unlimited amount of water to whoever comes to pump. Bosco was there last Saturday and watched as one lady filled 4 jerry cans (80 liters), another lady 10 liters and yet another man an additional 10 liters. At that point, the people were tired of pumping . . . But the well wasn’t tired of delivering! It never pumped dry—and the people couldn’t be happier about it!

While I’m working on the new rock bits for “the place where water NOW flows,” we are also going to start drilling in 2 other communities as a part of the process of learning how to drill here in Uganda.

Thanks for keeping up with us!

“Thirsty” Gets A New Name

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Rick

Yesterday was an amazing culmination of a couple of weeks of tough work and frustrating delays. We finished the well at “Thirsty” and the community was so excited that they decided to change the name of the village to a different local word that means “the place where water runs!” This is the first of a series of wells we’re going to be doing in this community. Interesting that the local folks were hard-pressed to believe that we’d return. I guess they are used to people saying that they’ll do something . . . and it just never happens. I had to assure them over and over that we would indeed be back and will start the next well as soon as we can! First we’ll spend some time manufacturing a complete new drilling rig and tools so that the next well should go without so many of the learning difficulties we experienced on this one!

With the provisional pump installed, several of the people told me they were already using this well for bathing, drinking and cooking. One old man said it was finally possible for him to get water without having to wait for someone else to come help him!

Here are a couple more photos of the finished well, and a snapshot of the community meeting under the mango tree where they decided both to change the village name . . . and to select the next site for the second well.

Note Bosco straddling the new concrete work in process by the villagers. This is one of the great challenges of getting the cost of the wells down to a manageable level. We’re working hard at it, but getting the price near $100 is still a challenge. We’re aggressively looking for local alternatives to bentonite (which we need to secure the walls of the hole as we drill). Even after being imported to the US from India or China, the US cost is about $15 a bag. Here in Uganda, that same bag, brought from India costs nearly $100! I’m exploring other import options as well as local clay products that might work as well. Also, because of the proliferation of NGO’s, every community expects a concrete apron around their well. The concrete and bricks add extra cost; they also need a chain and lock to protect from the handle and piston getting stolen . . . which means more $$. The extra-heavy well head you see in this photo is about $50 local cost and seems to be a good alternative to the ~ $1,000 model most often employed by other NGO’s.

I wish I could show more than just 2 wells completed in the time we’ve been here, but the learning curve (for me, anyway) is great, the raw materials are difficult to find, the tools are limited and access is difficult. For example, it takes about an hour to get to this one well site, including dirt roads (sometimes only as wide as an animal or human footpath) littered with potholes, ant hills and other debris. Once you get off the highway, trees and bramble are generally scraping both sides of the vehicle! I’ve already almost ripped off the Land Rover “steps” by coming just a bit too close to giant ant or termite mounds!

The ladies really complain when I show up in the village without bringing Sherry! She has won them over!

“Thirsty” May Need to Change Their Village Name!

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Rick

Yesterday was an amazing display of God’s grace and the persistence of some tough villagers! In the photos below, you can see the first water we pumped from the first well in this village! At the first pumping, we got a yield of over 40 liters of water in 3 minutes! Yes, I know it looks muddy and brown . . . but that’s how the water first looks. The second photo is of village ladies pumping water from this location, much closer to where they live than the several kilometers they’re now walking. In the third photo (Sherry pumping) you can see the water has already begun to clear. As the people continue to pump this well, the water will become cleaner and cleaner. Already, they’re amazed at how cold and clean it is. Remember, they said that if they only got “2 cups a day,” it would have been worth the work they put into making this well!

On Monday, I’ll go back and install the permanent wellhead. Thanks to all of you who prayed and for all of you who have contributed to this amazing work! When we arrive on Monday, they will have met as a community and determined the next spot to drill their second well. Since over 225 families live here, it is seriously important that we continue to work with them to drill their own wells . . . furthering the vision of Water For All to bring water to the poorest of the poor — and at the same time to bring them the Living Water, which will satisfy that deep soul thirst!

Oh . . . one more little note. The following photos are a snapshot of Sherry’s Boston Marathon training. She ran over 20 miles, in over 90 degree heat to get to this well site — and then still had the strength to pump water. What a studly woman!

So We Try Again . . .

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Rick

Yesterday I forgot to mention just how desperate the people of this village are for water. I did say that the village name in the local language means “thirsty,” but I forgot to show you just WHY they’re so desperate. The following photo is of one of two unprotected springs that serve as the only water source anywhere near the villages. Notice the forefront of the picture; cow dung at the edges of their drinking water!

When I arrived to work on the well again yesterday, the villagers were insistent that we attempt to re-case the hole, hoping that it would make a well. They said, “Even if we only get 2 cups a day, it’s better than what we had before!” So we re-cased:

[below]Bosco and one of the Mzees (pronounced “mu-zay”) standing on the drill supports protecting a too-long piece of casing we’d pulled the day before

After reworking the well, we found that we did indeed have water. Part of the process is to pump the well dry and see if it recharges. The next photo is Abdul, one of the hardest-working drill team members (and the one who caught the hedgehog for my lunch yesterday!), listening to the well refill

And . . . in keeping with my food pics, following is what I ate for breakfast yesterday. It’s made from dried sweet potatoes, which are cooked and then mashed, and served hot. No forks or spoons; you grab a hunk, roll it in your right hand (left hands only used for “hygienic issues”) and pop it in your mouth.

Today, we attempt to make some further repairs and hopefully, get the well working!

Is it or isn’t it a new well?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Rick

Over the past week and a half, I’ve been working on a new well in a village about an hour from Soroti. The name of the village in Ateso (the local language) means “thirsty.” What does that tell you? They say that the government has declared their area some kind of special high-need-water location. That means they’re desperate for water. At the community meeting we had before starting the well, one old woman was sitting outside the meeting circle in the sun; I asked her to come into the shade, but she said she couldn’t because she hadn’t bathed for over 2 months. Translation: she didn’t want to offend us with her odor.

Here’s a photo of some of the guys drilling:

We drilled for several days, then broke part of the drill bit, leaving the “dart in the hole. Figuring we couldn’t go further, we decided to case the well and see how much water we got. After backwashing and conditioning the well, it didn’t look like we were getting hardly any recharge (water refilling the well) and were so discouraged after drilling for a week!

Yesterday, we arrived to find over 13 meters of water in the well! We had decided to try and go deeper, hoping we could get past the broken drill bit. Today, we’re going to case it again, backwash and condition again; then we’ll pray and hope that we get some water!

Here are a couple random photos of my day yesterday:

Breakfast: jackfruit. It was amazingly sweet. The guy who climbed the tree to get it got stung so many times on his face by wasps that he couldn’t come work

[below] This guy just happened by the drill site, wondering if I could help him. Seems his brother bit him in a fight and this hand has now been infected for about 3 months! I took him to the hospital last night . . .

[below] This cute little guy (local version of a hedgehog) became my lunch yesterday. The villagers were so excited for me to eat it. Tasted like . . . yep . . . chicken – only better

Global Care-Soroti compound well: Done! Now What?

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Rick

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Sherry has been so good about updating and communicating (internet access and electricity permitting!) while I’ve had my nose to the ground and hands on the ropes (working at digging our first well). Yesterday we completed the Global Care well, after several weeks of wondering if there was actually going to be water in this well. I wrote a fair amount about it in a previous post, so I won’t go into lots of detail here. The bottom line is that it produces about 15 liters/minute. I had hoped for a greater quantity of water, but as far as we can tell, we’re producing about the same amount of water as the local community borehole, which cost significantly more than ours . . .

I’ve learned so much already and need to continue learning how to drill wells here in northern Uganda; I need to know more about the geology, the processes and what my available resources are. I’m also learning some of the cultural modes of operation among the Teso people. I’m trying to uncover what might be offensive, while also discovering appropriate ways to compliment and encourage the guys working with me to bring water to their kinsmen.

Tomorrow I’m heading to a remote village in another district, about 2 hours away from the Soroti compound, where we’ll hopefully find the site for our next well, so I’ll be meeting with local government and tribal leaders. This new well in will be the second in a series of about 10 wells that are provided for by a grant received by Global Care. I’m hoping that our process of hand-drilling will enable us to extend the available funds so we can provide more than 10 wells! We’ll see. This next well will be a good test, as we’ll have to anticipate all the possible problems, bring all the necessary tools and equipment and will likely stay on-site until the well is complete. At 2 hours away, we won’t be running to the hardware store for a piece we might have forgotten!

Click here to see several new photos of the Global Care well. We’ve named it the Joshua 1:8 well, after a song composed by one of our workers, using that particular verse for the lyrics.

Rick and Sherry Gregory in Africa

Rick and Sherry, Aspiring to be Jesus' Hands and Feet

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