(My parents got power back yesterday. No water and spotty cell service. My sister is also ok in Old Fort. Both have neighbors with wells and the communities are coming together.)
Yesterday (Saturday) we all gathered again at Thope Lodge in Mponela. (Minus the 4 who were here for 2 weeks and left last weekend). Francine and I went out for a half day of installations and helped with 5 wells. At 2 of the wells (huge village in need of even more water points) before we even parked the truck much less got out we could feel the energy and hear the roar. The crowd was large and they were already singing and dancing. It felt like a wall getting out of the truck! There was just enough room to get out and then we were shaking hands, greeting, singing and of course I started dancing with them. Wow. The joy. It didn’t stop until the first well was installed. As they were close we entered the information and took a picture and went with everyone to the second where we did the dedication. (After entering the info for this well too). Agogos shaking our hands, smiling and dancing. Laughter in their mouths and their eyes. It was beautiful!
That evening we met for a rundown of the numbers. The goal for 2024 is 4,550 new wells…team 1 installed and dedicated 1506!!
There are already 1907 wells ready and waiting for pumps…team 2 has their work cut out for them. Then team 3 (our dedicated African staff) will finish up the others.
Tom gave us a rousing encouraging and important talk about telling the story and raising the money for these wells. As of Oct 2 MMM has funding for 1940 wells. The story will be told. The money will come. We believe but we also move our feet and do what we can.
Want to help? Donate at mmmwater.org/donate any amount helps. $475 funds a well for a village.
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