It’s Rainy season in Uganda, which usually means that drilling slows as the ground soaks up the water and turns to mud. But even as the drills and teams wait out the weather, there is much to be thankful for here at CEED! Through the generosity of our partners we already have 23 wells in various stages of completion from initial funding to final touches, all since the beginning of the year. Wells in over 17 villages, 2 schools, and a church have already been staked out, as well as a birthing clinic will provide water for over 5000 people. In this report I’d like to share with you, the school, the church and the clinic.
Nyakafunjo School
The only water source at the school is a muddy pond full of frogs and waterborne parasites. And with 900 students, the teachers can’t keep the children from the water at all times. Children aren’t careful with the water they drink, and have often drank from their cans before their teachers and parents could boil it for them. Because of this attendance records at the school are poor, and student’s education suffer. The 900 students at the school, also represent 180 families that also have to get their water at the same pond. That’s well over 1000 people who haven’t had access to a clean water source. This well is currently in the first stages of drilling and we and the sponsors for this well at Ingomar Living Waters will keep you updated on the progress of bringing clean water to these children.
Kigorobya Gospel Church
One of the goals of CEED is to build up communities not only in physical ways by providing clean water, but also spiritually. What better way to do both than to provide a well to a church? When the people living in the area surrounding the Church come to the well, they will also be introduced to Jesus the Living Water. And water will be available to everyone, no matter their religious affiliation. That is a powerful testimony for many who have seen faith based discrimination practiced in other villages. All are welcome at the well, and all are encouraged to drink from the living waters.
The Mama Grace Birthing Clinic
This well was brought to us through a request from the Bishop of the area who we have worked with for decades. The clinic is already a place where mothers go to have their children, but without clean water the staff was limited in what they could do as risks for infection were higher and all water had to be brought in, and boiled so supplies were limited.
This well is special in a couple of ways. The first is that because of the size of the clinic, our team determined that we needed to drill deeper and install a pump. To do this we needed to drill with a big rig. The team determined that while our rig is in the final stages of construction, the best course of action was to work with another big rig team. This allowed us to get the well in more quickly, and it also gave out drilling teams access to a big rig early. They spent the time observing and learning about the machinery and logistics of how a big rig well is put in. It is a good opportunity for teams trained on our smaller rig, because when our big rig is finished, they will already have a head start on operations.
The well is also the result of a partnership of the Wilsons, a long time CEED family and the Inspired Women’s team through a the winter gathering and a presentation and win by Jill Whitecap. When this well is finished it will provide water to hundreds of mothers and new babies, supporting life at its most precious and new stages.
We are excited to see what the Lord is doing at the clinic and will be posting photos of the progress as well as some of the new lives the clinic welcomes.
So as you can see we have been very busy in this first part of the year! We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has for us and the people we work with to provide water in Uganda. Thank you for your support and your prayers as we continue to move forward.
