Well, well, well

Rog drilling...using water to get to water...making good use of an intern who came to help

Another well story...this one with a happier ending. We have been visiting a village for over a year now. This is the same location where we started a village savings and loans group. There is one family there (the head of the household died last year, leaving 2 wives and a plethora of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren) that we have been visiting and have grown quite close to. We asked if they would like a borehole well, as the women travel a far distance to get water from a hand dug well that is not very clean. They said they did, so digging started mid-May. The soil was mostly sand at first, so progress started out quite quickly. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and the sand transitioned to a very hard clay.

In general, there were always one or two helpful people around

Rog had to get the big guns out once the ground got too hard...had to pound at the ground using some heavier equipment (hence the need for the tower)

We managed to get through some of the clay using the equipment above, but we did not get to as deep as we would have liked. In order to get a well that produces good amounts of water, ideally, we would have dug 5 meters into a sand layer (which allows water to pass) below the water level. We think we hit water at around 13 meters but were only able to get down to 16 meters, with almost all of that being clay with some stones mixed in. This hard ground slowed progress tremendously, but we did the best we could in the time that we had left (we are leaving next week!). When all was said and done, the well produced about 7 liters every 5 minutes ... not great, but enough to be helpful to this family.

And the young and old are enjoying the use of this borehole well that has a pump made of PVC pipe. They have exclaimed how clean and cold the water is and appreciate greatly that we have been able to give them this water. We did, however, ask them to pay for the cost of the pump...about $40 CAD. We wanted them to invest in it and have a reason to take care of it. We are grateful that the well worked and that at least one family is drinking safer water because of it.

Other Tidbits

Last week was the final meeting for our village savings and loans group. The ladies were very excited to receive the money they had saved over the past 9 months. I also gave them a pair of sunglasses and a box of sugar (what they do here during Ramadan...gift each other sugar) and they were very happy to receive it. There were women who saved $15 and others who saved over $70. They are excited to start up again in a couple of months (our Korean YWAM friends will be helping with it while we are in Canada).

So yes, we are getting ready to leave Niger. We have finished up our 4 year term and are headed to North America for a year. We will stop in California to visit Rog's family and speak at his parents' church before flying into Edmonton where we will be for the year. We are looking forward to living in a developed country again and connecting with our family, friends and churches. Here are a couple of pictures of what we will not miss.

 GARBAGE!!! There is garbage everywhere....

PLASTIC BAGS!! The national bird of Niger...

The HEAT is definitely something we will not miss. It has been a scorcher of a hot season and though we had one good rain that marked the start of rainy season last week, it has been humid and extra hot, with lots of power problems.

But, what we WILL miss here is the people. As we said goodbye today to this family and village we have visited weekly, I was touched by the many tears shed by the woman who has been the greatest encouragement to us. May God keep them all healthy until we see them again next year.