Water Plumes at the Orphanage
Orphaned children walked in single file on the dirt path, each holding a large containers or plastic bucket—some nearly as big as them! The nearest potable water was a 2-kilometer walk, far too long for most of the children (though older children make the trip with a cart). Small feet carried them to a small brook. Water! They squatted as they worked to fill their containers in the trickling stream and then marched back with as much as they could carry on their heads. The children poured their murky water into a rain barrel with a cup floating in it.
Natural bodies of water in Cameroon carry water-borne pathogens. To drink from these sources is to risk serious illness or even death! Water can be boiled to sanitize it—but still not an easy process. Despite home health education, people often go back to using dirty water.
FahMiyanwi arranged a geophysical survey, and the results showed that geological formations present could be good aquifiers, but it only promised 85% chance of favorable results depending on what the engineer and drilling technician encountered. The day the boring equipment arrived and delved into the earth, they witnessed a spray of water into the sky! It was Christmas Eve, the perfect day for a gift given in honor of the Lord.
Water is flowing now, and they have a solar pump. Before the well, using the soil was impossible, but now they have their own vegetable garden! The cost of the project was $8,650, and it not only serves the orphanage but the entire village of Bangoulap.
“All things are from him and through him and for him. May the glory be to him forever. Amen.”
—Romans 11:36 (CEB)