Why?

There are so many reasons I'm here...(many of them selfish) but here are a few not so selfish #mmm2018trip #cleanwater

Vote!!

I did!

While installing wells with Marion Medical Mission around Rumphi, Malawi, we saw this each evening as we came back to our hotel. Please vote! Vote early or Nov 6 but VOTE!!! Get your voice heard! #mmm2018trip

Mother's Day

Oct 15

It's Mother's Day here in Malawi. national holiday. My partner asked if she got the day off too, but we decided that bringing clean water to mothers around rural Malawi was a better way to spend the day! Wishing all the mothers out there a wonderful day! #mmm2018trip
$400 or any part thereof will help fund the wells we are installing in the villages www.mmmwater.org

Would anyone like to say something?

At the end of the dedication service we open the floor. Sometimes someone is ready and stands up immediately and sometimes it takes a minute but this is often what we hear:

Thank you for this wonderful thing that you have done to us. It is through God's love that this has happened. We had no idea that this would be possible for us.

Thanks to you for coming. Thanks to all those who have given back in America, please take back our thanks. May God bless you and them!

Now we have life because water is life and it is clean and we no longer have to worry about diseases or sharing with animals.

Our health will be better because we live downstream of people washing in the river and animals who use the river, but now we have protected water.

The children will not have to be sick and can now attend school. We can teach them and help their bodies as well as their minds (at a school installation).

The hospitals will have medicines for those who need it as we won't be sick from water diseases.

We are so far out (and the roads were terrible) that we have been neglected by the government. We are so close to the border that neither take care of us.

Now our families might have an easier time and better marital relations as the women don't have to get up at 3 to walk for water.

we are so sorry we don't have more words to say or gifts to give you because really this is such a big thing. We are so happy you can see our smiles. All of us. thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks you for your help. We will remember you, please don't forget us. Continue to do this thing for our neighbors who still need this help.

And we are given chickens, bananas, ground nuts (peanuts), maize, honey, tomatoes, hugs, hand shakes, cooked cassava, egg plant and green peppers, love and gratitude.

Thank you to all who make this possible!!

Dedication service

It starts with a prayer from someone in the community. Usually I kneel on or near the well and pray for the village and the well. I pray for blessings for the clean, clear water to bring health and strength to all who use it.

Our Field Officer, Alexander Nyirenda, or one of his Installation Supervisors, introduced us and we give a group greeting (in the language of the villagers - or close to it) " Monire mose" (chitimbuka) response "Yewo".

We explain that Christians from America heard that they needed clean, safe water and wanted to help. They donated money for the pipes, pump and cement to complete hard work that they did for this well. (Similar to sweat equity at Habitat for Humanity, the villagers are responsible to organize themselves to dig the hole -by hand, get or make the bricks, gravel, sand with direction from trained MMM builders). They do the hard work!

The well represents the love of Christ. On the top in both English and Chitimbuka (or Chichewa, Swahili, local language) is etched Glory to God, Uchindami kwa Chiuta (Ulemelelo kwa Mulungu, Utukufu kwa Mungu, etc).

This well belongs to the village! And they must take care of it by keep in the area free from trash, keep animals away from the well. That way the well can last for years and years, for the children that are there now to grow up and have children of their own.

We then explain the maintenance plan. The village has a maintenance fee to pay each year. the figures I have heard this year are between 4000 and 5000 Malawian Kwacha which is between $5 and $7. The fee pays for any parts should something break. There is a trained maintenance person in the area. If the well breaks, they call him (or her!) and he (or she) will come to fix the problem. The maintenance people are our builders and installation supervisors who get paid per well they put in (September-October) but are volunteers the rest of the year (no pay). The village is asked to thank them with a gift when they come to fix the well.

We ask them to tell others from their village and area who will be using the well what they have heard and seen so that the well is properly maintained. Then we ask if anyone would like to say anything.

Then the demo on correct usage and a picture before jumping the truck and doing it again!

Installation

The first thing done at the well is to drop a 20 foot pvc pipe down the well to measure the depth. Mark where the pipe sticks out (or glue it to another if it is over 20 ft) and pull it back out making another mark for where the water level is. Measure and enter the info in the android.

Glue on the foot valve to the bottom (if it isn't already on) and cut the pipe about 5 inches shorter than the well depth to keep the foot valve from being in the bottom and sucking up mud. Add a collar to the other end of the pipe to hold it in place.

The hole in the top slab is created by a spider (central ring placed in the concrete as it is being made). It is threaded and the head piece (Pic in last blog) is screwed in.

The T handle is put through the pump and then attached to a thin 25mm pvc pipe that will go inside and pull the water up. Using the larger pipe for measuring, the plunger is attached to the bottom of the small pipe slightly shorter than the big pipe.

Drop the large pipe down the hole, then the plunger and pump and screw it together, tight as it will go. Build a small fire to warm up the outlet pipe so that it fits into the pipe and voila! A new well installed! Time for the dedication!

The typical day in the field

Pics: the well as we arrive (it has been covered, the piece sticking up was added by the installation crew, but I rarely get to a well before that has been added); conferring with the crew to answer android questions about the well

That is one of the topics that we cover during the daylong orientaion...and the speech started with :

"There is no such thing as a typical day in the field..."

And it is true. It depends on which country you are in (we work in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia), which field officer you are working with, and what happens during the day. So this topic is taken for what it is, a possibility of what the days may bring.

Up early. 6 is sleeping in for some...the hotel in TZ started serving breakfast at 7 (we pushed for 645), but the one in Rumphi (where I am now) feeds us at 6am and we are out the door by 630. Load the truck with everything well related: pipes, pumps, little parts for the insides...To the shop to get water for our team, biscuits (cookies), bread and peanut butter (bought this the first day in TZ and never stopped to eat it...2 weeks! They push through til dinner), and cokes.

Drive. Drive. Drive. We try to go to the farthest well of the day and work our way back. When we arrive we pull what we need from the truck and walk to the well site. The team starts putting the well together and we volunteers start greeting: hand shakes, how are yous, fumbled responses, and then info gathering on the android (what the well looks like, village demographics, builder names). Then the dedication service and a demonstration on how to use the well correctly. Then back to the truck (possibly a hike to get there) and on to the next well!

This goes on all day with a break for lunch (unless you're in TZ where you might pause for biscuits and drink) until you have either completed you projected goal or the time is getting too late as you need to get back to the hotel before dark (company policy that doesn't always work). Time for dinner, backup of important well info, showers, prep for the next day and bed...ready for another day!!

Leaving TZ ~ 410 wells

Thursday was a half day of work as we were gathering back together to eat and prepare to head back to Malawi. My field officer said that we were aiming for 9 wells but would turn back at 2 to have time to leave. We had some longer walks to get to wells and we did the first 6 with relative ease. Number 7 was a bit of a hike and we weren't able to install which was too bad, but they were assured they would be the first well installed on team 2. It was about 2:30 and I thought 6 out of 9 wasn't too bad and said so. "No, no. The last 2 are very close together." I wilted at that point. But on we went. When we arrived, the people were there. It was a very populated areas that already had 2 wells from last year and they were being used! I could see the 2 were going to install (very close) and the energy I found from those people was exactly what I needed. It was refreshing and renewing and just beautiful! The last 2 wells were what I needed.

We started the 2 day trip back down to Malawi (Lilongwe) to meet up with the whole volunteer crew. We had a music memory stick in the truck that is a bit like an iPod shuffle with lots to music on it of all kinds. We had a Christmas sing along for about 40 minutes, Dolly Parton, Bryan Adams, NSync, and so much more. (If you haven't heard Dolly sing I Will Always Love You, you should- and I now have over 25 times - and I sang to every one of them!)

Final Well Count for Team 1: 1203 completed (out of 2900)

Not all have been funded... $400 or any part thereof goes directly to fund clean water... www.mmmwater.org ...

Here comes team 2!!

Week 3

Sunday was youth Sunday at the Lutheran church. And there were lots of youth there! There was a skit done of a meeting (decently and in order?) In which they discussed the need for uniforms and right worship...I didn't understand any more than that. The young woman (a youth) who preached used Matthew 18 and talked of bringing children to church to show them the way not keeping them away.

Tiffany and I were split into separate trucks to get more wells In for the third week. I went to Vwawa to work with Field Officer Sunday Samson. On the way there I was stopped for speeding. She came over and showed me her phone with a picture of the truck nd the speed radar...impressive but I didn't like it! 57 in a 50 kmph zone...it doesn't even feel like speeding. Oh well.

At one well, there was only 2 ft of water so we tried the 15 bucket test. If the well can fill 15 buckets it should be refilling fast enough...this well only did 12 buckets so the decision was to dig it deeper and then we would come back to install. It is hard to leave without an installation but it is better in the end.

I find in TZ that the people are more reserved than in Malawi but that, of course, doesn't hold across the board. I get to some wells and I get hand shakes and sometimes I get hugs and bounces. I always get smiles. The children are curious and sometimes scared (even terrified). At one well I got to cuddle with a 7 month old who was so happy. She babbled and drooled and stayed with me through the dedication. A 6 year old boy at the same well was scared and wouldn't come anywhere near me! (Boy in the TOOLS shirt pic). The next day I had another little girl come to sit in my lap as we watched the installation.

A tipping mishap and other news (week 2)

Your prayers for safety are always welcomed, appreciated, and needed.

They warn us that the driving we do is the most dangerous part of our time here...the obstacles are many: stick shift driving, driving on the left side of the the road, dodging chickens, goats, dogs, and cows, four wheeling through sand and over and through streams, etc. Our trucks are tough and they can do a lot. They can survive tipping as we discovered on Thursday...the path narrowed and there was about a 2ish foot drop to the field next to the road...in slow motion that is where we went. One bruised knee and many sore muscles, everyone in the truck is ok.

Villagers arrived quickly as we were busy assessing ourselves and walking around the truck. I think that the pipe racks stopped us from continuing the roll (though they also make us pretty top heavy and if like to blame them too). Tiffany and I watched as the racks and back were unloaded. Villagers took hoes to the drop off and made it more level and then they righted the truck. It wouldn't start so the word was sent to Rev Mwasakifwa to come with the mechanic (he's the coordinator for TZ and was on his way to check on us as soon as he heard). We decided to install the well we'd almost made it to (needed to do something besides sit and wait--let's change some lives!) When we got back to the truck it had been turned around and pushed to a flat place.

We walked to the second well and passed Rev Mwasakifwa on the way. He reassured us (again) that trucks are man made and can be fixed or replaced but humans are not. After a couple of hours the truck came into town on its own steam...just needed 10 liters of oil! A few dents and a hard to roll up driver side window! Utukufu kwa Mungu! (Glory to God),

That second well was too close to an animal pen for the water to be safe to drink so we had to take it out. (3 days later: ) They have already rebuilt in a better place and the well has been installed! As we waited Tiffany developed a following of children who were at the clinic and they played, tossed rocks, counted, head/shoulders/knees/toes, hokey pokied and more!

Tiffany and I have helped with 104 wells in the first two weeks! That is a personal record! As is the 15 wells installed in one day!! (Not the tipping day, that count was 3) We have received a few chickens, eggs, beans, maize and dinners. We have been blessed and asked to convey their thanks and prayers back to the Americans who have helped fund their wells. We have danced and bounced with joy, chased children and shaken so many hands. They have been long days, bouncy, dusty, rewarding and refreshing.