Mali Water Pump Project

Today the team finally began drilling. When we arrived at the village this morning, we began removing all of the material from the storage unit and moving it to the drill site. We ended up loading about 350 feet of small steel piping, 350 feet of large steel piping, the pump, and all of the linkage system including a 13 foot I-beam. After we loaded it all onto our full sized van, we returned to bring the wood box used to store all the materials. Getting the 4'x4'x18' box onto the top of the van was quite a process, but we finally got it up there and to the drill site.

After the drilling company arrived and set up their drilling rig, everyone prayed for success and the drilling began. We tore through the initial ground until the hit hard rock at about 30 meters, or about 100 feet. During the drilling, we did hit a small pocket of water, but we need to keep drilling until we hit the main water table to ensure the water supply doesn't dry up. The company kept drilling through the rock, until our team had to leave the village. When we left the drilling company had reached a depth of about 65 meters, and said they would keep drilling until they reached 80 meters, which was the depth that we contracted. We will know by tomorrow what the results are, but the company has said they are willing to drill another hole if we are unable to find water at the original site. They are also going to be helping us install the pump and all of the piping when we hit water.

While the drilling was taking place, the team tried to keep all of the village kids entertained. The kids were taught how to play follow the leader, a modified version of Simon Says, Bocce Ball, and hop scotch, amongst various other games with the soccer ball that we brought them. Playing with them all was a lot of fun, but the 110 degree weather made it very exhausting. Overall it was a pretty good day, and we will hopefully have good news to report tomorrow.