Studio Outside's Paul Freeland traveled to Nicaragua recently with representatives from Weathermatic and Hines Irrigation to help bring water to a small village via drilling a deep well. Living Water International, the organization supporting the mission on the ground in Nicaragua, is an international organization with the goal of bringing safe, clean drinking water for as many people as possible.
Below is an excerpt from Paul's blog about the trip, which you can read more about here.
This is the story of my trip to Rivas, Nicaragua, to drill a well for a small community of approx. 100 Nicaraguans through the mission work of Living Water International.
If you've never heard of this incredible mission, or the work they are doing worldwide, there is a lot of information at their website regarding their vision and mission work all over the world. Their one goal: provide safe, clean, drinking water for as many people as possible. Our story will be repeated over and over again across the world, each and every week, as short term mission trips just like ours launch each and every Sunday to remote locations with the hopes making an impact on a community, both physically ... and spiritually.
The message is a powerful one. There is no shortage of riveting stories, images, and testimonies of problems all over the world that stem from a lack of clean water. I had been considering (and praying) for ways to get involved in a mission trip where God's timing and will would lead me to the right place and time and I was given an opportunity that was very difficult to pass up.
We arrived in Managua and met the Living Water team of Frank, Leo, and Lisseth. All three serve as a LWI drilling + hygiene Team A that work together each and every week with the varying short term trip teams arriving from the states. A well is attempted by each team every other week, allowing Team B to drill and work with STT teams on the off weeks.
We drove about an hour to Granada where we were staying with Jorge and Karla, who served as our In-Field directors and hosts for the week.
The second day was spent drilling the full length of the well to the second water table at around 65'. We made the decision to stop drilling as we were beginning to hit some rock and Frank was confident the water at this level would be acceptable.
We filled the now 65' hole with 8" pvc pipe that we lowered into the ground that will serve as the conduit for the well water pipe. The hole was filled with 10' of washed gravel, sand, and covered with concrete to form a cap between the two water tables. The gravel, along with generous amounts of chlorox poured into the pipe, cleans the water. The rest of the day is spent developing the well by pumping water out through the gravel and flushing the well.
All photos by Paul Freeland
