Wednesday, Dec 12th: Starting To Feel It

I woke up this morning, hotter than usual, only to find out or A/C unit had stopped working! Found out the water breaker went out and they had to turn off the breaker, which happened to be the one for the A/C. Since we don't use the water there, except to take a shower, it wasn't really a huge concern. But then when I wanted to go to the restroom before we left and found that you couldn't flush, I was in trouble! We had to carry buckets of water (from outside) to fill the tank up so that the toilet would flush. I am blessed.

Since I taught my lessons on Monday and Tuesday, I was looking forward to just being with the kids and not having to stress over whether I would relay the lesson well. To start out, Theresa and Lauren teach their lessons to just the moms, so Karen and I have the children color on the tarp. They like it, but for some it quickly becomes boring. I've noticed that some of the kids are warming up to us as the days go on and are acting out a little and listening less. So we start a game of 'pato, pato, pollo' to run out some of their energy. After the adults are tired, we gather them to the chairs so Lauren can teach them about tooth brushing.

 

After the lesson, we have them make tooth puppets out of paper bags. They really enjoy this. While the children are working on that, we notice that one of the kids is going over to Santo's water bucket and helping himself to some water. Daniella (Santo's daughter) sees this and quickly goes over to fill a water jug and sets it out for them, but with only one cup. As sweet as that was for her to do, we have to gently tell them that its not ok to share cups. There are lots of germs that are shared when you do that. We could tell that her feelings were hurt a little, but it was our job to at least tell them. Unfortunately, the reality of their life, in most cases, doesn't permit the houses to have a cup for each person, so we realize that its kind of a losing battle. If they don't have more than one cup, how can we expect them to not share when they want a drink of water?

 As we break for lunch, we see some of the drillers have come over to one of the houses to cut the pipe. Josh is cutting slits about one inch apart on 3 sides of the large PVC pipe that will be at the bottom of the well. This will be so the water from the aquifer can seep through the slits and up the pump.

 Caught a picture of Kent playing soccer with one of the kids when we were walking up for lunch. The drillers didn't get much time to play with the kids, so with today being a little lighter in work for them, they took the chance when they got one.

 Lunch today was hot dogs. If you know me, I don't care for hot dogs, but it was lunch so I ate one.

 Then its back to work for the guys...they are inserting the large PVC into the 160 ft hole to serve as the walls for the well. They have to glue each piece together.

 My handsome hubby. Even though we didn't see much of each other during the day, I am so happy we came on this trip together!

 The cows are leaving so this signals us its time to head back to the class area. I don't know if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but the cows from all over the community would basically herd themselves to the pasture at the end of the main road (my guess is about 1/2 mile) around 1:30 and then they would come home about 4:30. As the houses come up, each cow would just break off from the herd and head to their house. It was so funny!

We started the afternoon off with an acting out of the good Samaritan.

 

 Look how many kids we had this afternoon! Close to 50 kids! And their attention span was short today so we didn't do the Bible lesson and instead let them play with some play dough. They loved this! We let them put their play dough in their tooth puppet bag so they could take it home.

While the kids were busy with the play dough, Santo's pig got off its leash so Brian took off after it. It was so funny because the pig just kinda pulled Brian along and it looked like he was skiing on the dirt! They eventually got him back to his tree.

We got out the sports bag after the kids were done with the play dough. It was short lived, though, because the compressor at the drill site went out so they had to quit for the day, which meant it was time to go home.

On the way back home Theresa decides we need to go into town and buy a new chair to replace the one the kids broke while fighting over who would carry it. She also wants to get some new soccer balls. I went with Karen to the store yesterday after we got home and really wanted to take a shower today, but everyone else had something they had to do so I went with Theresa. It was quite the adventure! At points I was a little scared for my safety, but Ernesto (our driver) assured me I was in good hands. We went into the markets where there are thousands of people walking the streets and selling things at their booths. I didn't take my camera with me so I don't have any pictures. There was one point where we parked the van and walked to one of the street markets and as a bus tried to squeeze by us, I literally could reach out and touch it, it was that close. Then Ernesto drove us to a small shop, parked in the middle of the street so he could just run in, and left us in the locked van! We were fine until a car behind us started honking...we didn't know what to do! Thankfully, Nester came out about that time so we didn't have to find out what would have happened. Sheesh!
Once we get home I have a few minutes til its time for dinner, so I rush my shower. Its really not that rushed, since all the showers are quick ones because there is no hot water. Dinner is taco salad, and I love taco salad! We had some good juice too. I am so thankful that I brought chocolate with me because there is no dessert here and everyone knows I love dessert!! So after some m&ms we are off to bed. Tomorrow is possibly our last day in the village and I can't believe how fast its gone.

Tuesday, Dec 11th: Its Gonna Be A Doozie

Woke up feeling very emotional today. Last night we used Emily's Ipad to facetime with the boys. It was so good to see them and hear how much fun they were having, but my poor Jacob was not doing as great. Not only did we just rock his world by leaving him but he's getting his molars in and is just miserable, and I feel completely helpless that I can't comfort him myself.

After devotional and breakfast (which was pancakes today!!) we head out for the village. Today we are greeted by a few of the children as we arrive: Katarin and her little sister Rosa and Juan Carlo and his brothers. They are so excited to see us, and my mood is changed right away as I realize how excited I am to see them too!

After no moms showed up yesterday for any classes, we had to 'light a fire' so to speak and give them a reason to come. The pastor David told them we would stop drilling if they didn't come to the classes...so here they are! We are very elated to see so many come this morning!

We start with Theresa's lesson on germ transmission. As she is preparing, we realize that all of her supplies were left at the house. She decides to improvise with a makeshift fly & homemade poop (play dough rolled in dirt) and I think it was actually better that her prepared supplies! So she starts teaching and the frequent used word 'kaka' is a hit with the children! After the lesson, we have the children make mozquas (flies) out of pipe cleaners. As this is a little advanced for most of the children, we get down and help them with their flies. They all love them! I think a few even brought their mozquas back the next day!

After the craft, Karen sat with the moms on a class about diarrhea and oral re hydration. We kept the kids occupied by playing our own version of duck duck goose. Theresa didn't know the Spanish word for goose (and neither did our translator Scarleth) so we called it 'pato, pato, pollo' (duck, duck, chicken). And the kids ate up this game! One of my favorite memories about the week so far!

At about 11, we broke for lunch. This is earlier than usual, but we told the kids to go home and eat their lunch and we would meet back at 1:30. Before we even started lunch, they were at the fence waiting for us. As much as we hated telling them to leave, we definitely didn't want to eat our lunch in front of them. Lunch today was tuna on top of rice. Not one of my favorites, but I ate it because I was hungry and knew a granola wasn't going to get me through the day. After lunch we are escorted by our new friends, who love to help us carry stuff. Its a big help with that heavy trunk!

We reviewed Theresa's lesson in the afternoon and then did a Bible story and a craft. The kids were pretty rambunctious today, so we decided to bring out the 'sports bag' early. Bringing out the fun stuff too early meant 2 whole hours of non-stop playing with the kids! I have to admit, at times I wished I was sitting with the big group of kids who were blowing bubbles! I was definitely worn out at the end of the day!

As we walked back up to the site, Lauren and I talked about how tired were were after throwing frisbees for 2 hours. We both realized that we had never just sat and played, non stop, with our kids. That was so convicting for me. I know this is one of the things God wanted to show me on this trip. I pray that I will remember this day every time my boys ask me to play with them and I am tempted to say no because of all the 'busyness'. Life is too short and they grow up way too fast.

We were happy to hear that the drillers had made great progress today! And they were dirty!! Today was the dirtiest day for everyone!

I love this picture of Jim!

Emilita!!

After cleaning up at the house, we had dinner. It was fried chicken and we couldn't get enough of it! The best meal so far! After a cutting out what seemed like a thousand Senor Diente for Lauren's lesson, we turned in early and hoped all would get a good night's sleep.

Monday, Dec 10th: Day 1 of Drilling

*This is a long one folks!*

This morning we sang "He Is Mighty To Save" (which is now my theme song this week) and read and excerpt from the book "The Hole In Our Gospel". This is what we read (I will shorten it for the sake of space): "Most of you began this morning with a hot, clean shower. You brushed your teeth, filled a glass of water, and took a few vitamins..And each day you run your washing machines and dishwashers and take your toilets for granted..If you have children, they probably haven't spent even one hour of their lives fetching water for the family to drink or to bathe with. And I'll wager that neither you nor your children have ever had a sick day due to unclean water..I want you to imagine for a moment that when you wake up tomorrow, all of the water-related fixtures and appliances have been removed from your home..You would wake up wanting to use the toilet, take your hot shower, brush your teeth, swallow those vitamins, and fix breakfast-but you can't. What would you do? At first, you would be irritated by the minor inconvenience of having no showers, toilets, dishwasher, or washing machine-until it started to dawn on you that this is far more serious-a threat, actually, to your health, your family, even your survival. Finding a way to get water would begin to consume your life..Where I live, we are fortunate to have a wonderful lake just about two miles away, so if I knew I was going to be without water, I could begin to plan ahead to organize some water fetching. On foot, it would take about two hours round-trip to go fetch water to use for drinking and some rudimentary bathing, but thirty gallons of water weighs about 250 pounds. I checked my water bill and learned that my family uses about three hundred gallons a day. That would weigh more than a ton and would require fifty round-trips to the lake each day..Now, if you had to work this routine into your schedule every day and still get everyone off to work or school on time, you would have to begin your treks in the wee hours of the morning. Washing your clothes and dishes, let alone your own body, would become an overwhelming task..Now, this little imaginary dilemma I took you through may sound a bit amusing as you think about how absolutely dependent you and your family are on water, but let me add a more sinister dimension. Imagine that the water you fetched from the lake was teeming with deadly bacteria, parasites, and waterborne diseases-that are literally killing you. This is the grim reality for about 1.2 billion people in our world today. As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses. A child dies every fifteen seconds of a waterborne disease. This creates a no-win situation for millions of parents in our world today-they can watch helplessly as their children die for lack of water, or they can watch them die from diarrhea, because the only water they have is tainted."

I hope you don't feel guilty after reading that. Just wanted to put into perspective what we were walking into that week. I know that was long so I won't talk much more about today. Just some pictures and some thoughts from Kent Grubb, one of our drillers.

 

This is what 'el bano' looked like in the village, and yes, we did use it.

First impressions of the children here. This is Katarin and her little sister Rosa. They were first to greet us every morning-their house is right next to the drill site.

A little glimpse of what we did hundreds of times a day..use anti-bacterial wipes.

This is Juan Carlo. He was my buddy for the week. He holds a special place in my heart.

Jim, Deanna and Emily mixing the bentonite.

This is what a typical kitchen looks like.



When the hygiene girls arrived, we visited the homes around the area and invited the moms to come to the classes.

Some houses were made of concrete, some were wrapped in tin and plastic.

Every other day, those who pay for water, receive it from the city. Unfortunately, it is unclean water and when the city runs out, well, there is no water for anything.

We started with a craft. The children made name tags..and they absolutely loved it!

Little Erick

After making the name tags, Lauren started her lesson, which was an introduction to Living Water and us and Jesus as the "living water". I agreed to act out Lauren's skit, but didn't know I would be risking my life! LOL! I was supposed to go grab the cup, which was supposed to be empty, and pretend I was taking a drink. Only, the cup wasn't empty, and I got a mouthful of water...unclean water. I almost threw up as the water hit my mouth, and the kids thought I was hilarious! Only I wasn't acting that part! Glad to know we are off to a great start with the kids!

My lesson came next, germs and handwashing. I had to teach each child how to wash their hands with clean water, soap in one bowl with a little water for washing and rinsing in another bowl. I also had to stress the importance of dumping the water out after each person because it was now dirty. This took a long time with 20 kids! Karen helped out by being Ana, the puppet. Theresa had a fun time making her the night before!

 This was probably the first time ever for many of the kids to wash their hands. Very sad realization.

This is a hand dug well. The water is contaminated with bacteria and parasites that seep into the ground and into the water source.

The kids loved to have their picture taken and then see it back on the camera!

 At the end our our day we pulled out the balls, jump ropes, frisbees, and bubbles and the kids went wild! Definitely the hardest part of the day!

From Kent Grubb: 

Drilling began today a bit after 10:00. Our driller, Adrian, was delayed obtaining necessary items for drilling. We had a target time of 9:00 to start but the pause gave us the opportunity to walk back to the home where we had enjoyed the church gathering the day before. There we spoke briefly with the sister whose house it was, and she allowed us to use the latrine behind the house. She was doing laundry outside her house on a concrete sink and wash board.

At 10 Adrian began teaching us the rudiments of drilling a water well. The first stage is digging several small trenches leading to a pair of pits. Three men of the village church had dug the two five foot pits in an hour. We took some lengthier period to hack out our several shallow trenches of a half foot depth and several feet in length.

As some of us dug, Emily, Deanna, and Jim mixed Bentonite, a slick oatmeal-like substance - once it is mixed. They muscled 40 lbs sacks onto the lip of 55 gallon drums, then sifted the Bentonite powder slowly into the drums. At the same time time they shot water into the barrels from compressor powered pumps. Inevitably, the slurry erupted at moments, splattering the three of them. Undeterred, they finished up three 55 gallon drums. The Bentonite is critical for mud drilling as it lifts the cuttings to the surface.

We then dumped the Bentonite into the pits and began drilling. This is fairly physical labor, requiring lifting 5ft sections of pipe to be joined to the drillhead as the drill works further into the ground.

Adrian taught each member of the drill crew how to operate the drill. Some were naturals, others felt a conviction for other callings.

We are just inside the Pacific coastal area of Nicaragua. Jorge, the local Living Water director, warned us that the sun would be quite draining. We were very blessed today to have nice cloud cover as well as a very pleasant breeze.

At lunch, we had a sandwich, some chips, and Gatorade. Several pigs trotted by, with an eye toward anything that might have been dropped. Several showed mild irritation earlier in the day in their wallows along the road threading through the middle of the pueblo.

When the drill bit stalled about an hour after lunch, Adrian had us pull all 115ft of pipe from the hole. This requires breaking the grip of the threads on the successive lengths of pipe with a three foot pipe wrench. Each section must be reloaded into the trailer so it is ready to be reused. Once the entire pipe length was out, Adrian attached a new bit, while Jorge cleared the bit. As each length came off, water shot from the joint in the pipe saturating the three or four drill crew working to break loose the pipe.

At the end of the day, the hole was 115 ft. Adrian tells us we will likely have good water at 160.