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Our Work in the Congo
Drilling Water Wells
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Clean, pure water is in short supply in many parts of the world, including the area where Paul and Marty carry on their ministries. The sandy clay soils of central Congo filters the water that seeps into the valleys where springs come out of the hillsides, but collecting the water beside wash and laundry areas and hauling it miles up steep hills means that the water is contaminated before it arrives in the villages and the quantity is very inadequate. The same water that seeps into the valleys is also available 100 feet below the villages!
The challenge is how to give the villagers access to that pure uncontaminated water near where they live. It can only be done by drilling a well near their homes and installing a hand or solar operated pump that will bring water to the surface every day.
The people most affected by a well in the village are the women and young girls! They are the ones who carry the water up the steep hills from the valleys. Everyone is thrilled when a well is drilled and a pump is installed and they can walk a short distance to a water source on level ground and fill their containers as often as they want to. At one well where our ministry installed a hand pump, people pumped water for 18 hours a day from 4 AM until 10 PM at night day after day.
Our ministry needs partners who will help us cover the $12,000* average cost of drilling, developing and equipping a well! This contribution will profoundly affect people's health and lives, and will bless them for years to come with thousands of gallons of pure, healthy water.
If you would like to "Adopt a Well," then please donate and contact
us!
*The $12,000 Cost of Well Drilling Includes: transportation (drill rig, a supply truck, a pick-up, repairs, fuel, oil, insurance), compressor, salaries, health insurance, taxes, rations, plastic casing, the drilling "mud", gravel, the solar/electrical pump, lumber, nails, cement, electrical wiring, plumbing pipe, plumbing fixtures, solar panels and water tank.
Many of these items are not available in Congo, so have to be imported from either South Africa or the United States. Importation fees are charged and transportation to our nearest river port. Then items are trucked in to Lodja. Folks are desperate for water! Clean pure water is a number one public health benefit.
Visit our Photos page regarding drilling of water wells for more photos.