Mali Water Pump Project

Today we worked in the village on smaller side projects while the surveyor surveyed the new site. We assembled seesaw hardware and supports and poured the cement to anchor them in the ground. We also painted the seesaw board red, and we will attach it to the supports tomorrow. Soon the children will have a new toy to play with!

Today we woke up and got ready for church...and waited. And waited. And waited. Our ride to church was 2.5 hours late. Patience is definitely a virtue in west Africa!

The day started with a meeting with Jean, the representative from the drilling company. Later the night before we found out the drilling would not begin on Saturday, so Jean came over a little after 9:00 a.m. to talk with us. He told us they could not begin the drilling because they were having a small mechanical problem that would be fixed later that day. However, this was not the main reason they would not start. The main reason was they had not received the money. We guaranteed him the money would be there and offered a cash advance in good faith.

Today was our 2nd hot day at the village where we intended on the surveying being completed. On the way to the village, Anatole bought us some local food. It was a dense cake in the shape of a muffin. The surveyors followed us to the village, but when we got there some problems arose. The villagers who had donated the land for the well said that some of the land they had donated was to be used for crops next year.