"BORED" IN AFRICA
by Living Waters International
It is midnight on Sunday. Our day was to start early and excitement was in the air as this is the day we are sure we will get water. By 7:30 am I was informed that our driller technician was still in Kisumu and had not come to Mbita as I was assured. This meant he would not arrive until after 1 pm, which pretty well shoots the day for drilling. Once he did arrive at 2 pm we discovered the drill replacement that finally arrived on Saturday was the wrong piece and would not work. There was nothing that we could do to use any of the equipment and the best option from the driller was to wait several days while he took the equipment in to Kisumu to have it engineered. You must understand that that would be a disaster and would add months to the project.
By God’s design and my mounting frustration we were face to face with the original well driller that gave me a quote of $25,000 for the bore hole. I met him on the ferry Friday and he was very cordial, so I invited him to come see our project on Sunday. This he did, just as I had reached my limits of toleration, desperation and despair. I left the US one week ago and to date we had accomplished nothing, truly nothing.
After a quick site visit and a very intense meeting on our need and he in the process of moving equipment, the negations came in very fairly for us. Long story short with so much interest, well drilling started at 6:30 pm Sunday evening. At 8:30 pm we hit our first water at exactly 100 feet. Does that sound vaguely reminiscent of praying for water at 100 feet? It wasn’t much but it passed the test as I am covered in gray mud.
By 10:30 pm the well had hit a sizable fissure that produced 6000 Liters an hour. It was a pure gushing of water. The well water blew just like something out of the movies. At times the entire drilling equipment was engulfed in water. I have incredible photos.
So the first estimate is 6000 liters/hr is the yield. I can only pump at best 360 gallons/hr. This means there is wonderful, unlimited, pure water in a 190 foot deep well. This is an incredible blessing. I was covered from head to toe in mud. Drill time was 5 hours and the next three hours they will put in the casing, gravel filter and finish the work at 2:30 am.
God is so good. Through frustration, small questions of my faith and with a 16 hour day filled with heat and frustrations we finally have an incredible well. The drill was through entire rock which was a very good sign for water quality and quantity. The many pictures will tell it all by August 5th. We still have a long was to go, but my night is short now and I will again hit the ground running [tomorrow].
Living Waters International is working to provide clean drinking water for the people of Kenya. Visit their website at: https://livingwatersintl.org/
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