In the barrio Sinai, there a two community wells which was donated by a group called “Food for the Poor” in the 80’s. Both currently nonfunctional.  One is located close to the entrance of the main road (over 50 homes on this stretch alone) and the other closer to the other end. 

Upon entering the barrio I could immediately notice the care and attention they placed upon their surroundings and homes. Kept clean without trash, taking pride in what they have. In the photos maybe you can see what I mean compared to other barrios. This also seemed to be more of the houses made from the blocks and concrete rather than metal, plastic or wood. 

First water well by first glance looks fairly in good condition. The shelter that was placed over it helped, of course this was after the sun and climate took its toll on the machine. Getting water out of this is nearly impossible. Only a spirt comes out of trying for mostly ten minutes. Usually this means the bottom is dried up. Either the bottom has collapse to cover the natural spring or the tube system is not low enough. I released the tubes and added more to the length so the base would be at the bottom to again test the well to see if water will release. It did not.

While there you can see the people coming together, all whispering in excitement, some giving praise to our Father God…..this is even when I could not do anything….I ask myself why God, why are they happy when I failed to bring water….I felt the holy spirit say…outreach….reflect…wait…search

Now at this current moment I was not even aware of the second community well. I was only actually there for the first one. This is when the people said with such a happy voice, we have another one maybe that is the one god chooses to bless. Humbling experience for me. Faith has gotten me to where I am at, but for second I felt defeated, I realize we need to have faith to get where we are going, not just where we are at. Faith never ends; it’s the beginnings to new doors being opened as we minister to Gods children. We started walking in fellowship getting to know each other (outreach). A bond started to form and followers started to join in as they heard how God sent me into this barrio. The first words the new followers heard was “Jesus Te Ama” which means “Jesus loves You” as we continued down the street. Roughly about a 10 minute walk we came up to the second well.

This well has not been functional for almost 12 years. After nearly three days of configuring with the components, releasing the tubes to observe any spots or details that my eyes catch, replacing the rope to get a better tension placed in the tubes, I was able to get water to release. Glory to God!!! It was flowing as you see in the video but also look at the bacteria in that water. Defiantly not drinkable. My first test is to always smell it, if there is any odor that means a bacterium has formed within. I then put my hands in to feel the texture of the water. Meaning does it feel rough, like small spots hits your hand. Does it feel slimy? Does it change your hand color? How does it come out when you pour it from your hand? Can you see anything? All these are great ways to test the water onsite without any equipment. 

Unfortunately since the people was so overwhelmed by seeing water flow out they all came running to fill buckets. Some on horses but who can blame them. They been walking miles daily to use the river that cattle go lay in and that the government puts waste in. So I took the machine down after I released all the tubes that way no one will get sick. 

For this project my ideas and plans are:

I will start to add chemicals to clean out the sides of the well.

Add a pad area where they place the buckets to fill up with water. The area is not in great condition; actually it has no base… I personally would like it off the ground so when they carry the buckets on their head they don’t get mud on the face and hair. Could we even imagine how that feels? 

The concrete base to the machine is too low to the ground. It’s about a foot tall which does not give enough height for the handle and machine alignment. Puts strains on the back and also on the machine which you saw in the video the base of the machine rises when the wheel is turned, which causes the tubes to move on the inside which causes the ropes to lose its tension which causes the water to never get that suction grip to travel up the140 ft. journey to the top.

My plans are to construct a new base to the proper height. Connecting an adaptor to the tube diameter, extending it through the new base to exit the top allowing us to enter an all new tube system from the ground pulley all the way up to a new machine. 

This well is 140 feet. It takes two sets of tubes because the entrance of the hole is only 5 inches wide. The rope needs to be enclosed at all times for security purposes. If the rope is free in such a small area it can wrap around the other tubes or it can rub against the side of the well which damages the washers and rubs the rope raw. Taking out these tubes in some areas they have been damaged. 

As I writing, the Holy Spirit touched my heart. All we need in this world is FAITH

Image Gallery from our Project in Sinai, El Desafio, Nicaragua