A day

We are up by 530 to have breakfast at 6. Sometimes we hear the Muslim call to prayer before 5. Breakfast is an egg, 2 pieces of white bread, and hot water or milk for tea or coffee. Then it is off to the CCAP where the Zambian MMM office is to load up the pipes and pumps and parts and tools needed for the day. The plan is anywhere from 6 to 10 wells (so far). Then to the market to pick up Coke or Fanta for lunch, bread, peanut butter and water. Then we drive...

The roads are bumpy (understatement of the year)! If you can call them roads...many aren't. We are not on paved roads for very long. Some of the dirt roads are better then others. Some are wide and have been graded sometime in the part, though usually before the last rainy season so they are pretty rutted. Then there are narrower dirt roads, and then we turn off on a footpath or through a field. Sometimes we can drive right up to the well site and sometimes we walk to get there.

Park the truck and get all the parts needed for the well: big pipes, skinny pipes, the pump, foot valve, connector pieces, suction piece, pipe wrench, tool bag, android (for documenting and GPS). Usually there are plenty of people to carry the pieces to the well...I've only carried parts once this trip!

At the site MMM workers get busy putting the well together. Kimberly and I greet everyone who is there (some of the kids take off running or just stare at us). Then enter the info into the android...water depth, well depth, village name, builder, etc. When the well is installed we dedicate it and take a picture with as many people from the village as we can...sometimes that is many people and sometimes just a handful, it depends on the other activities of the day such as markets, funerals, etc. They are always so grateful and want us to thank those who have thought of them and don't know them. Sending God's blessings with us on our way to continue in this work.

And we're off to the next well...until we decide we have to head back to get in before dark (somedays estimated better then others)...

Weekend

We got relaxed Saturday afternoon when we got back from our 4 well morning. On Sunday we went to a joint service with 5 different churches (different denominations!) Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Church of Zambia, and another....it was a choir extravaganza! The sermon was on the commandments... Both the Old Testament's 10 and the New's greatest (love God, love your neighbor). It was about follow in the rules and laws. There was lots of laughter from the congregation. Not too much was translated for us... Though we were told that the preacher said that there might be some thieves in the congregation and if they were listening that stealing was wrong.

The other line I really liked was, " be happy, this isn't a funeral", just before the joint choir sang and we all danced!

The service lasted 4 hours (would we ever!?!)

We went for lunch at the castle in Lundazi. It is the largest castle hotel in Africa and is a national monument. Supposedly the queen (of England, I think) stayed there at one point. It overlooks a lake.

Back to the hotel to get ready for another week of well installations! Here we go!

*maybe a photo of a joint choir with a very tiny addition

And the castle (if not, will be added later)

Wells!

It is now the end of the first week! I am exhausted and exhilarated! It has been fun working the Kimberly and Isaac as well as our many installation supervisors and builders. Many of them have some English and we are getting lots of laughs with our Chitimbuka.

Muli uli? Makola! (How are you? I'm fine!)

Day 1 we did 10 wells close (ish) to Lundazi where we are staying. We had 2 pretty deep wells (about 30ft) and used up all of our long (new) pipe at well #9. But we had enough left to splice for the tenth well. Many of our wells have 6 feet of water (being used to team 2 and farther into dry season it often comes up shorter). One of the wells was installed at a school, Kimberly and I did 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' with them as the installation was happening. We received a chicken at each well along with fresh sugar cane, bananas, cassava, greens. We were told at one village they waited for us the day before and had a whole celebration planned (with homebrew available!) But that many had to go to a funeral that day. (Might have been safer for us!)

9 wells on day 2 even after getting lost on the way to the office to load pipes and get Isaac, a flat tire before the first well (our spare was padlocked in but the other truck was just behind us so we took theirs), got stuck in the sand twice, both pipe racks were cracked (only one was our fault)! So many things that never happened to me on previous trips...all in one day! Many ground nuts that day. One mama sent the child who caught a chicken for us back because it was too scrawny!

6 on day 3...varied gifts of chickens, maize, rice, greens, tomatoes, ground nuts, and beans. Got some dancing in with the women! Isaac told us that one of the youth was surprised to see white women because she thought that all azungus were men.

Saturday is a half day and we got 4 wells done. As we drove up to one well they were jumping up and down and singing! We knew we were in the right place! So much fun!

Down time with a total of 29 wells...time to sleep, read, and get ready for church...

Zambia!

*trying something new on posting through my email...don't know how this works or if it does. The title should be Zambia!

We're off! Early on Tuesday morning, Mr. Mhango, the Zambian MMM Coordinator, took us (4 of us, myself, Kimberly, Dan, and Don) north in Malawi and then turned west and we headed for Zambia. When we turned west, we got our first taste of the bumps. Most of the roads are not paved other than the main highways, and the roads do not get much maintenance so even the paved roads are rough with potholes. The border was not a problem, bought our visas and continued bumping along. We arrived in Lundazi where we stopped by the bank to change money (dollars into Zambian Kwacha) and then went to the hotel. We are staying at the Johnester Executive Lodge.

Our field officers came by with Mr Mhango and brought sim cards for our MMM phones. Isaac Ngoma would work with Kimberly and me, Goodwin Banda with Don and Dan. Relax, get settled and ready for tomorrow...(both Kimberly and Don are first timers, exciting!)

Protected water*

We are here! 18 volunteers to cover 57,000 squares miles in 3 different countries to help install 2800 protected water sources!  Well, we will start the installations for 3 weeks and then Team 2 will come in to complete the wells. We are from AR, NC, IL, GA, CO, MI, SC, and VA.

I have to admit, I love not being jet lagged for the first day! Helped to set up the tool boxes that will go out with the trucks. Had dinner and went to bed...after fighting with a stiff mosquito net...and realizing that my kindle had attached to an internet system and the date was now set to Nov 15, 2015 at 9 am....not helpful for my wakeup alarm in the morning...sorted that out and slept well.

In the training we went over cultural differences, record keeping on androids, picture taking, installation and dedications, money, phones, tool boxes and driving! It was a long day but now we should be ready to head out! I'll be working with Kimberly Richey and we are headed to Zambia!

If you would like more info on Marion Medical Mission click here.

If you would like to sponsor a protected water source and help ~150 people to get clean water for only $400, click here.

If you would like a devotional for each day of our trip, click here or send an email to devotions@mmmwater.org

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!

*Shallow wells now has a negative connotation here in Africa due to a shallow well not having a set definition and an open hole can he a shallow well and people get sick from them.

Malawi!!!

I'm back!!!  The flight from Scotland to Malawi was smooth and uneventful. Isabelle was waiting for me at the airport, I just had to get thru customs. Not much of a problem as I had all my papers ready to get my visa. The crush of people around the baggage claim made me unable to get to my bag the first time around...

(PSA: if everyone at every airport would stand 3 feet back from the conveyer belt and only move forward when they see their bag, things would be much smoother!)

Isabelle and I headed for the lake! We arrived at Cool Runnings and spent a lovely weekend! One day of wind and waves and a morning of glassy smooth water, lots of sun. Also very hazy! The water in the lake is lower than normal as the rains didn't fill the rivers that feed it. Not a good sign!

We left Sunday for the airport to drop me with the first team for Marion Medical Mission arriving just as they exited to load up the trucks and head to Mponela for training!

Cumbrae and more

Cumbrae and more

We went to the Isle of Cumbrae one afternoon. We went to hike around the northern edge (basically around the whole island). It was a rainy day. Emma was ecstatic as she wanted to experience what the typical idea of Scotland was. We all know it rains lots in Scotland but she hadn't really seen much of it. We all had a great time. Cumbrae has reddish beaches from the rock there and is very pretty. We saw a seal swimming off the coast.

 When we were about halfway around we stopped for tea (it has stopped raining and the sum was even peaking out) and we found out that there's was a 10 mile race happening. About 3 minutes later the first runners ran by. Another family was at the cafe and had come to support the racers. They brought a bagpipe and the father and son took turns playing at the roadside. We waited for the crush of runners to pass and then continued on giving encouragement as we were passed. By the time we made it to the town it had started raining again. We hopped on a bus for the last 2 miles back to the ferry along with many many runners.

One day we took to hike to the caves beneath Culzean Castle. You have to hit it at low tide. There are 3 or 4 caves below (we forgot to bring our flashlights so there wasn't much exploring we could do). One of them will lead into the castle if you know where you are going (have a guide). There was a school trip out that day leading about biology and finding creatures in the tidal pools. What a fun field trip!

Our last day we went to the Mull of Galloway, the most southern tip of Scotland. There is a lighthouse there (you can go up on the weekends-it was Wednesday). A nice museum that explained how the foghorn worked(s). It is now owned by the RSPB (Royal Society for Protecting Birds). There are many different types there. We saw 2 kestrels hovering in the strong winds. Most if the rest were gone for the winter. The weather was playing with us...from sunny to rainy and windy. It was gorgeous to drive along the coast and then be surrounded by the water. We drove home through forests and over the hills. What amazing beauty!