Today, we saw the week's work come to completion. I just want to cry. I am so amazing in a crisis. I am strong, I am level headed, I am brave...then, after the crisis is over, in the still of the night when nobody is looking, I completely and totally breakdown and dissolve into a great big chocolatey mess. That is where I am right now. Not that this week was a crisis in typical fashion. But in ways, it kinda was. We all had to rise to levels we didn't know we had. We had to rise physically - the last four days were tough. And I feel really stupid saying that. We hygiene girls have NOTHING on the drill team. But for the last four days we have been outside, in 90 degree weather, from about 8 a.m. until about 4 p.m. We have inhaled dust all day. We have inhaled smoke all morning. (Because BFI doesn't visit this neck of the woods, trash is heaped into little piles at each household and burned every morning.). We have played with children who have boundless energy. The minute we pulled in to the village each morning, those little folks were ready for us, and as soon as we stepped out of the van, we needed to be on! And as silly as it sounds, trying to communicate with 40 or so little people in a language that you only pretend to speak is exhausting work! All that said, I cannot even imaging how tired our drillers are. But right now we have several walking wounded. Rob fell into a hole yesterday, and by the looks of things, may have a broken foot. It is ugly, ugly, ugly! (This about a man who usually has very sexy feet!) And today, our dear brother Dan was bitten by a dog. Rabies is always fatal, (less than 10 cases of symptomatic persons who have survived) so tomorrow Dan will be heading to begin the rabies treatment regimen. Chances are good that he is not infected, but really, who would want to take that chance. I plan to go along with him so that I can chronicle the event in video, and if he cries like a sissy girl, I will post it on YouTube for all to see. :-)
Then we needed to be strong emotionally. You feel like there is a special place in hell for you when you have to look at a 3 year old child and tell them that they can't drink out of your water bottle. Or when you see their head covered in colonies of lice, and their scalp bleeding and covered in scabs. Or when you have to take the ball (or crayons, or frisbees, or bubbles or bible story book, etc) away from anyone because it is time to pack up and go home, and if you leave it with them some older kid will probaly beat then up and take it away. Or when you sit in a class and hear that of the 9 moms there, only 2 or 3 have toothpaste in their houses because, in their words, 'if I have money, I buy rice for my children'. Or when you take a look at the whold group of children and know that any of them might be but one bacterium away from a fatal case of dysentery - something you have never even had to give a thought to as you raised your own children...The list goes on and on, but this week, we all needed to be strong, and we all needed to be brave. And until today, I took it like a man! And now that it is winding down, I have no strong or brave left. I am not sad - I am just empty. So, I sit in my room and sob and blog, hoping that I can convey all that this week has meant, and knowing without a doubt that I will fail miserably.
So, now that you have all had a great dose of Debbie Downer...I am going to try to explain the joy that comes with the title of this post. This village now has clean safe drinking water! All praise and glory to God in heaven - I pray so hard that this will mean so many good things for this community. I posted a pic on my facebook of the first drops of clean water I saw come out of the pipe, but of course they are not posting for me here. Such an amazing moment. So very proud of our drill team for coming here, letting themselves be bossed around, spewed on, seared by the sun, taxed beyond their wildest dreams to give this gift to this comnunity in Jesus' name. But, I have asked my husband, the one who heard God's calling to do this and led this amazing group of folks here have the last word about the well. From Rob Anderson;
"Today was day 4 at the drill site. Due to a couple small issues on previous days we are now a little behind schedule. With freshly charged batteries we attempted to start the compressor to flush and develop the well. It did not start! So off went Adrian for batteries, but since they are so expensive he bought jumper cables...it worked! So the rest of the day was spent developing the well and cleaning up the work site. The schedule also allowed plenty of time to visit with the residents and play with the ninos! Late in the day we made the forms and set the pump head in place. We watched the local men, Santo, David, Jose mix concrete in a "volcano" on the ground...pretty cool. The highlight for me came when my team mates asked me to set the plaque. Observations: Jim McDaniel is a man worth knowing...an encouraging heart and a tireless worker. I am very out of shape (again) and vow to change this. I will never take any of the little things; water, health, home, clothes, vocation, air conditioning, and so on for granted! Happiness and joy can be found in any circumstance...even extreme poverty. Finally, I want to thank my Northside family for their generosity! I cannot begin to tell you the feelings that I experienced when I saw those words..."a cup of water in Jesus' name. This well donated by Northside Church of Christ!"
And since we had technical difficulties yesterday and didn't get to hear from Theresa Turner (a truly amazing teacher) here are her thoughts:
Today was Day 3 of our Living Water Mission trip. Our Hygiene team of 4 women have taught Hygiene lessons on germ transmission, dental hygiene, and nutrition as well as Bible stories that teach about the love that Christ has for everyone. The first day about 20 children that live in and around the Village where the well is being drilled attended our classes. Today we said "hasta mañana" (until tomorrow) to about 55 children. In addition to teaching, we spend 1-2 hours just playing with the children. The people of the village live in extreme poverty. Toys like balls, frisbees, and jump ropes as well as playdoh and bubbles provide excitement because of the rarity of these kinds of toys in the village. The children and parents that we have had the absolute privilege of spending 5 days with have touched my heart in so many ways. They greet us each morning lined up along the road before we even get out of the van. They enthusiastically offer to carry our supplies, backpacks, chairs, and anything else we have to carry. They put their hands in ours calling us "mama", "hermana" (sister), and "prima" (cousin). How blessed I am to have had the honor of spending time with these precious little ones - it's a week I will never forget."
I thank Rob, Theresa, and all the other guest bloggers for their help. And, special thanks to Dan for all his tech support and videos. Please enjoy a couple of more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0wTgj4JFQw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm8br7Lp3LQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Tomorrow, we will finish up, and there will be a dedication ceremony at the site. It is quite possible that Dan and I will not make it, so we will look to the others there to take lots of pictures and give lots of hugs for us. So until, tomorrow:
May my steps be worship, may my thoughts be praise, may my words, bring honor to Your name.
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