July 10, 2009

Joby and I arrived without drama which is always a good thing. We went through customs with all of the solar pumps, panels and connection boxes without challenge. We were directed to a particular customs agent that upon questioning discovered what we were doing on Rusinga Island and informed us she was from Rusinga Island and a SDA. At that point she gave me her contact information for future needs and waived us through. That may seem a small incidence, however, with the tax system here that was worth thousands of dollars saved. Just another example of answered pray.

The challenges of working in Africa are almost impossible to describe to anyone who has not worked in a third world country. This trip has been no different, with more challenging than I have had in the past several trips. A lack of pre-planning from the local contractors often delays the project as is the case this time. A critical piece of the drill equipment was lost in route and has pushed the drilling behind by four days. Yesterday Joby and I spent twelve hours in Kisumu chasing down casing pipes, parts and needed supplies that should have been sent with the original load. After nine hours from leaving Mbita I had to be content with finding the replacement pull cord for the generator. That put us on a role and within a couple of more hours I had located all the pipes and other supplies that had been shipped from Nairobi. Two of the fifteen 4 inch casing pipes were broken in transport. That limits our well depth by twenty less feet. The drill piece that was lost was finally tracked down and went to another town hours away. Hopefully it will arrive today in Mbita. We are hoping and praying that we are fully ready to start serious drilling on Sunday morning without further delay.

This has all been a great learning opportunity for my son Joby which is on his second trip to Kenya. He is getting first hand experience in how to anticipate the challenges before they happen and how to develop solutions to meet those challenges. I think he also realizes that even with experience and the best planning, the challenges are only met by the grace of God and His hand in leading with these types of projects. We work as hard as we can, we are completely exhausted by days end and yet it all comes down to God running the final play.

Today is Sabbath, our day of rest. It will be the first chance we have had to catch our breath since leaving last Sunday. Hitting the ground running without time to adjust to the time difference and jet lag takes it toll. Last night Joby said he was so tired that he didn’t think his body could digest supper. It actually made me feel pretty good since he is 28 years the younger and I thought I was the only one getting that tired.

Tonight we will show the complete Jesus video, a 2 ½ hour movie on the life of Jesus. It is done in the local Luo language and we will have between 700-1000 children and adults come. It is a powerful movie that holds the power to change lives. We have seen that every time we show it.

I would like to thank everyone who continues to support Living Waters with prayer and finances. This is a great work that is being accomplished, not by what I am doing but by the way God is blessing our efforts and by the way that each of you has supported Living Waters. I am privileged to be one of Gods instruments in this and I thank each of you for your trust, confidence, prayers and support.

The orphan children of Kaswanga have gone from gaunt, frail, frightened children, to happy robust and relatively healthy kids. The change has seemed metamorphic. The local community has joined the challenge by unifying around the feeding center and recognizing the importance given to these young lives left to fend for themselves.

I have just been informed of an opportunity to receive (free) 1000 repellent treated mosquito bed nets. We would have to do training and distribution, but this could have a significant impact locally in reducing malaria. It is a big project, but potentially could save so much misery and death to those in the Kaswanga area.

Thank you for reading the update and please continue to pray fervently for the success of the well drilling project. Another update will be coming by end of next week.

July 11 Bored in Africa

It is midnight on Sunday. Our day was to start early and excitement was in the air as this is the day we are sure we will get water. By 7:30 am I was informed that our driller technician was still in Kisumu and had not come to Mbita as I was assured. This meant he would not arrive until after 1 pm, which pretty well shoots the day for drilling. Once he did arrive at 2 pm we discovered the drill replacement that finally arrived on Saturday was the wrong piece and would not work. There was nothing that we could do to use any of the equipment and the best option from the driller was to wait several days while he took the equipment in to Kisumu to have it engineered. You must understand that that would be a disaster and would add months to the project.

By God’s design and my mounting frustration we were face to face with the original well driller that game me a quote of $25,000 for the bore hole. I met him on the ferry Friday and he was very cordial, so I invited him to come see our project on Sunday. This he did, just as I had reached my limits of toleration, discus, desperation and despair. I left the US one week ago and to date we had accomplished nothing, truly nothing.

After a quick site visit and a very intense meeting on our need and he in the process of moving equipment, the negations came in very fairly for us.. Long story short with so much interest (read the book), well drilling started at 6:30 pm Sunday evening. At 8:30 pm we hit our first water at exactly 100 feet. Does that sound vaguely reminisnt of praying for water at 100 feet, It wasn’t much but it passed the test as I am covered in grey mud.

By 10:30 pm the well had hit a sizable fissure that produced 6000 g

Liters an hour. This was a pure gushing of water. The well water blew just like something out of the movies. At times the entire drilling equipment was engulfed in water. I have incredible photos.

So first estimate is 6000 liters/hr is the yield. I can only pump at best 360 gallons/hr. This means there is wonderful, unlimited, pure water in a 190 foot deep well. This is an incredible blessing. I was covered from head to toe in mud. Drill time was 5 hours and the next three hours they will put in the casing, gravel filter and finish the work at 2:30 am.

God is so good. Through frustration, small questions of my faith and with a 16 hour day filled with heat and frustrations we finally have an incredible well. The drill was through entire rock which was a very good sign for water quality and quantity. The many pictures will tell it all by August 5th. We still have a long was to go, but my night is short know and I will again hit the ground running.

Thank you for all the incredible prayers. Do not underestimate that.

Signing of tired and exhausted but so so very thankful

For information on how to help go to http://www.LivingWatersIntl.org

Daryl, Joby and the “forgotten orphan children of Kaswanga”