Tool boxes

I arrived in Malawi a week before most of the American volunteers to help prepare for the teams.

With 19 volunteers coming for team 1, we planned to prepare 20 tool boxes. These are big black action packers (industrial Tupperware) that will hold what we need for well installations. 

And then we found out they’d already been done! Yeah! The staff here is dedicated, diligent, and on it! There was more to be added but it came with volunteers in Lilongwe …

Here’s what we take with us into the field:

•18” pipe wrench 

•24” pipe wrench 

• 1⁄2” tap and handle (to thread pipe if the end isn’t already)

• 1⁄2” die and handle (to thread pipe if the end isn’t already)

• Sandpaper 

• Metal file 

• Wood rasp (coarse teeth) 

• Tote bag – to carry tools to the well

• Hack saw (and extra hack saw blades) 

• PVC solvent cement can w/applicator & 6 bottles of PVC cement

• Tape measure (25 ft)

• Sharpie pen to mark PVC pipe

• Matches

•Wire brush

• 4 Rachet straps (to keep pipes on truck during transport)

• 5 Bungees 

• Wiping rags 

I’m amazed that this is all we need to finish installing wells and giving the gift of clean water. 

Any amount small or large will help to fund this life giving gift. For $475 (an entire well) you will get a picture of the well and some of the villagers that you have sponsored. To donate go to mmmwater.org

Feet

Jessi Stitt

Volunteer, North Carolina

  

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

~ John 13:14-15

  

I notice the feet around me all day. In Malawi, shoes are not a requirement. Many people don’t own shoes or only bring them out on special occasions. Shoes are worn until there is nothing left to keep them on feet. Mismatched shoes are worn. I’ve seen women walk with one shoe on and the other was being carried to make them last longer.

 

I have a thing about shoes. I don’t really like them (I’d rather be barefoot). My feet blister easily when enclosed. And they get too hot. So while I do own closed toed shoes, I don’t wear them. I am now almost 365 days a year in sport sandals (even in the snow).

 

After a day in the field, my feet are dusty to say the least. The dirt has been ground into them. When I take off my sandals, there are white lines where my straps have been. Looks like tan lines, but it isn’t. Washing my feet at the end of the day is such a great feeling. Soaping up and watching the dirt come off feels good. 

 

It makes me think of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and how I, like Peter, wouldn’t want anyone else to wash my feet. Nor would I really want to wash anyone else’s. But I see the holiness in this act. It is a vulnerable place. Feet can be stinky. Feet can be strangely shaped. Feet can be ticklish. Feet can be tough. And feet always seem to be dirty.

 

Jesus says, “Those who have bathed need only wash their feet to be clean . . . I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

 

While I don’t go around actually washing feet, even at the well sites, I follow and try to serve others when I can.

Application Question: What can I do today to follow Jesus’ example and serve others?

 

Prayer: Almighty Creator, thank you for this day. For the example you gave us in Jesus. Thank you for the dirt under our nails and for the water to wash it away. Help us to remember your example and to go out and to serve our neighbors near and far with love in our hearts and joy on our lips. Amen

Any amount small or large will help to fund life giving gift. For $475 (an entire well) you will get a picture of the well and some of the villagers that you have sponsored. To donate go to mmmwater.org

What a week!

Happy birthday, Mom!!💗💐

The count for weeks 1&2 is 1,262 wells installed! I’ve personally witnessed 70 of them! From gogos (grandparents) to children, everyone excited for this safe drinking water (or just to see a mzungu). This water that will cut down on diseases, cut the hours spent walking for water, make life just a little bit easier. 

We’ve been gifted rice, cassava, chickens, bananas, plantains, lunch (rice or nsima with meat). There have been songs and dances, hugs and laughter. So much joy!

The driving is long, bouncy, and exhausting with mango trees overhead (got to watch those pipe racks), potholes below, people and animals coming from both sides. I broke a bridge and then spent an hour and a half watching people repair it. 

(Not one I drove over)

Francine and I moved to 3 different hotels as e we moved up the lake and still haven’t had time to swim (NOT my choice) but we’ve seen some gorgeous sunrises. 

Now I’m back in Dwangwa (where we started). Francine has gone to work around Mzuzu. This having 2 trucks is different…

Building

*most pics from building of wells witnessed last year. 

Beginning in August, the builders for Marion Medical Mission start training for building wells. They come together and build the training well. 

-Digging until they hit water and then 6 ft more so that there will be water even through the dry season. (We’re at the ‘end’ of dry season when we install so if there is water then, there should be water year round.) 

-Getting the stones for the bottom and making the bricks to line the inside of the well.

 -Cementing the rounds once they are some way up

. 

-Forming and pouring the concrete top slab that will cover the well. 

-Preparing the area for the apron and drain, flattening it and surrounding it with brick and stone to protect the concrete. 

And then they go out to the villages that have been picked to get wells this year. They are the skilled help to build their wells. 4,100 wells will be built this year. 

American volunteers arrived @ September 21 to begin driving to these villages, bringing the pipes and the pumps to finish the wells, to dedicate the well and teach proper use, to celebrate this blessing of clean water. 

Any amount small or large will help to fund this life giving gift. For $475 (an entire well) you will get a picture of the well and some of the villagers that you have sponsored. To donate go to mmmwater.org