Water wells!

Well the the next day indeed, here we were... gettin' to be a part of a real well in another village!

We met one of the families that would be getting their water from this well... very exciting! The mom has always had to walk wayyyyyy far away to get their water - and here is this almost-going-to-be-ready well, right in their back yard! It’s already dug and cement-walled down into the ground – we just got to help make the foundation around it.

Shoveling rocks… by now, we know all about moving rocks around.. !

(But I love that the kids always without fail, get right in there and start helping!)

Dumping rocks

Workin’ the rebar…

I now not only know what rebar is, I know how to tie ‘em together in straight grids with wire & twist it with a nail! :)

Preparing the cement... just doin' what we do best at this point! :)

Pouring water to make cement... Scottie is now cement connoiseur directing this process :)

Mid-work coconut break, fresh off a tree! (Really, they sent a kid shimmying up the tree to get it!)

Which was a gift from that village's Village Chief, who came to thank us for coming to visit the village and to help with the well. (Though really - thanks for letting us be a part of it!)

Ok- back to work. Pouring cement by the bucket (if we weren't ripped at the beginning of this trip, we sure are now! ;) )

Pouring & smoothing out the cement

Inscribing the well with HOPE! They do this with all the wells, with the year it was constructed, etc - though I'm sure no one will be forgetting any time soon!

Laying bricks around the edges for a bit of a brim around the foundation (that way they can draw buckets of water and wash stuff right in the big foundation area, or pour water over the foundation to wash it and have all the water drain out to an opening we left... we've already tried it with washing off our mud-covered feet. Works wonders! :) )