An Abundance of Water

Water was the theme of the last week for me in Mundri. I guess that isn't unusual seeing as I am a water engineer. =)

Hai Salaam

Day one of work for the water project meant doing some testing on the borehole which is located in the Hai Salaam community.


We tested the yield and measured the drawdown. With a bucket and a stopwatch in hand we were expecting that after a few hours of pumping we would see the flow rate go down, but it didn't. At the end of the day we were surprised to find that the yield was even higher than we expected!


With the pump running powered by solar panels and a generator during different portions of our testing, people lined up with their jerry cans for water. It was a welcome break from the hard work of pumping water by hand for women and children in the Hai Salaam community.


Children watched eagerly as we did our work.

Later in the week Michael and I walked around the Hai Salaam community with Kenneth from the water office and our GPS in hand. We took a second look at the locations for taps and the water tower that will be built for the water project and talked about future expansion possibilities for the project considering the high yield of the borehole. Later we stopped to sit and talk at the local church in the Hai Salaam community which is named Mili Zakaria after Kenneth's grandfather. I am continually impressed by communities in Mundri that gather together to support one another and work for community development, and Hai Salaam is a wonderful example. I am thankful for the partnership we have with this community and the local water office.

Bishop Ngalamu Theological College (BNTC)

This week we also found out that God has provided funds to install a similar water project for BNTC through a church in Australia! With this news we set out for the BNTC borehole to do the same testing that we had done just a few days earlier at Hai Salaam. The yield at BNTC turned out to be very high as well, which means this system will be able to expand as the college rebuilds.

As we worked along side the local water technicians this week, I was encouraged by their eagerness to learn about yield tests and system design. I am looking forward to the continuing training we will be doing as the water project continues over the summer.


Praise God for an abundance of water!