My Work Begins

This is Mark.  I wanted to give everyone an update on what I have been doing the last two weeks.  Our work on water projects here in the valley is picking up.  The Lord has been very good in spurring on the hearts of the leaders in several villages to pursue us - with regard to them requesting our (CAFNIMA's) assistance - with bringing water to their villages.  This is an important and long prayed for event.  The leaders in the village are much more interest in participating in their own development when they are the ones who have asked for assistance.

Water Samples

Last week we took 26 water samples from all over the valley where we have water systems already operational to test for bacteriological contamination.  We should receive the results today.  This information will help us know if there are any problems with any of the springs we are using.  If there are problems we will be able to determine if we can correct the problems with source protection or if we need to engineer some sort of treatment.  My role in the water sampling effort was to drive the truck.  We had to take all the samples into Carcha which is about a 1.5 hour drive one way on very bumpy roads.  We made this drive on Tuesday with part of the samples.  On Thursday, we drove to the other side of the valley (2 hrs.) then to Carcha and then back.  I don't mind driving (four wheeling is kinda fun), but on these roads - 7 hours is a bit much.  My shoulders have never been tired before after driving, but they were last Thursday.

Meetings

Last Wednesday we went to Sesalche II to meet with their Water Committee to have training on how to do administration of a water system.  We ended up running out of time to discuss the training material, but we talked for a long time about how much each user should pay for their water.  Part of what we are trying to do is help each water committee function more or less like a utility board in the states.  They will operate, maintain and administer the water system.  Part of the administration is collecting a fee from each user so that they will have the funds to do maintenance and fix their system when it breaks.  In Sesalche II, it is a struggle to help them understand why they need to pay as much as they do.  You can pray for us and them, that they will have understanding for the need to pay and that the water committee will manage and administer well; and that our team will communicate well with the committee.

Julio Leading the Water System Administration Training for the Sequixpur Water Committee

Also last week, we met with leaders from Semesche to write an "Acta" in their "Acta" book giving permission for the community to use a spring near the village and giving land for tanks so that they can store water from the spring for their system.  This has been "in the works" since I was here in February and we are very excited and grateful that this spring will be able to provide water to the Semesche community.  We will be working on this design in the coming weeks and hope to have this system constructed before we return for Christmas.

On Friday we went to Sequixpur to do the administration training.  Katy and I went with Julio and we had the meeting in the house of the water committee's president.  Julio presented the training material and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they are already doing most of what the training recommends.  Sequixpur has a partially working system that was installed in the early 1990's so that have a little bit of a head start compared to the other villages in the valley.  We were excited to find out that they are already administering well and hope their example and history will be able to encourage others in the valley.  Sequixpur is also important, because the spring that feeds their water system has lots of water.  One of our ideas is to use the overflow from their spring box to serve several other villages with water.  I was able to hike to this spring box this past Tuesday with Julio and the amount of extra water pouring out is amazing (see picture below - all that water pouring out is the extra - overflow).  The other advantage of this spring is that it is so high.  It sits above every village in the valley so we can move water without pumps.  Julio and I will return to Sequixpur tomorrow to discuss where there existing system does not work and try to determine why.  Next Tuesday, we will return again to discuss where there are families that do not have a "choro" or spigot.  We will be working on the design of their system fix and extension soon.

Existing Spring Box above Sequixpur.

I am very grateful for the team we have here in the valley and the work which CAFNIMA and others have done to make this work possible.  It is humbling to be a very small part in a much bigger story that the Lord is writing.  My prayer while hiking through the valley is mostly that the Lord will raise up leaders who will genuinely care about increasing the health of the valley without ruining the culture of its people.  I pray that we will be able to offer our knowledge and skills in a way that will not promote dependencies but increase the knowledge and desire of the people to improve their own situation.  I pray that the Lord's Spirit would fall on this place with hope, peace and love.

We are always grateful for your support and thankful for your prayers.  I hope that all of you are well.

Mark