Mali Water Pump Project

We began our day by taking Asha and Dr. Carter's luggage to the Air France terminal in downtown Bamako. The Bamako airport gets very hectic, so Air France has their passengers check their luggage earlier in the day, so they don't have to do it at the airport. Once we actually got to the village, we finished installing the see-saw, now that the cement had hardened and the paint had dried over night. When the see-saw was finished, all of the kids wanted to play on it at once, so we finally got them in two lines, and every ten seconds they would switch to the next set of kids. We also installed a second pulley system for another well, which was immediately used by the villagers, including the kids.

The drill site that the surveyor located was in a spot that would be hard for the drilling truck to reach, so the villagers had to clear out some of the bushes and a few tree limbs. While we were waiting for the drilling company, the kids of the village gave us fresh mangos to eat. We also started kicking a soccer ball around, which turned into a huge soccer game, until the drilling company finally showed up. When they got there, they didn't like the path that the villagers had cleared, so they started clearing another path to the site. While they were clearing their path, the village gave our team a live chicken as a thanks for the work we had put in. After the path was finally cleared, the drilling started and will continue throughout the night. The drilling company will let us know in the morning if they hit water, and if not they will continue drilling in the morning. We had to leave the site to take Asha and Dr. Carter home to pack up before heading to the airport.