Thursday June 5th – 10:08 pm

Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow !!!!

We’ve already been here three full days.  Before we expect it, three weeks will have passed and we will be anticipating a flight home, though there is a lot to do still.  Let me try to briefly recap each of the last three days, however, I must let you know the end of the story before I start.  I am compelled to spoil the ending because I am so excited.  Just 1 hour ago, water began shooting from a pipe that was laying on the ground at the base of a tree.  We measured the flow coming from it at 60 liters/min!!!  The owner of the well drilling company was estimating that we would get 20 liters/min.  Our expectations were tripled.  God knew that this would happen but wow, weren’t we surprised.

Anyway, now that I have spoiled the ending, let me start at the beginning of the last three days.  I will try to keep these recaps relatively short.

Tuesday, June 3rd

Tuesday, the day I wrote my last message, was a planned “recover from jet lag day”.  We took some time to eat breakfast then we began to open suitcases and set up the guest house.  We brought some small solar electric kits to charge the computer, phones, and cameras, so that took a bit of work.  We were glad to have two because one of the solar batteries would not charge.  (Fortunately Costco has a good return policy).  Then we started rearranging all the supplies that had been forced into the suitcases.  This took a while.  

Andrew and I opened and set up the water purifier that Stuart sent with us.  Thanks Stuart for the intestinal loss-prevention!  As of day 3 we have probably already filtered 16 gallons of water with that thing and it is still working great, along with my gut.

thanks Stuart!

Mid-morning we went to church #1 for a midweek bible study/fellowship time.  Didier taught in French while another man translated into Swahili while Josie translated (to the Americans) into English, an entertaining scene to be sure.

After church we had a short visit at Judge Emery Phuna’s office, where we met his staff.  He invited us to do two things.   One, visit the children he has had to incarcerate in the boys prison this Friday.  (He suggested we bring a can of sardines and a baguette for each boy).  And secondly, go to his house for dinner on Saturday night.  We are looking forward to both events.  He also had a picture of each adoptive family hanging all over the walls of his office.  He is quite proud of them and rightly so.  It is good to have a fellow believer here and there in government.

We then went to the market to buy some ingredients for dinner.  Among the ingredients was Joe.  That was what Andrew named him anyway as he rode there in the back of the van clucking, while his head and neck poked out through a hole in the bag where he sat.  Marion plucked his feathers after Mama Annie euthanized him.  Joe was tasty!

Matthew 25:40 on the wall

Later that night Marion went to the orphanage with a bag of animal, finger-puppets.  Cuteness!  One was placed on the hand of each child.  They mostly stared at them in wonder.  There are 20 beautiful and precious children in that orphanage.  I wish I could adopt them all.  Josie hasn’t given me the OK yet.

Wednesday, June 4th

Wednesday, was an intense day of shopping.  Shopping in the Congo is nothing like shopping in the US.  Open markets mean you have to pull out cash to engage in a monetary transaction for just about each item you buy.  Even if you visit the biggest department store in the city, you have to pay on each floor of the 5 story building; so if you want something from each of 3 different floors you have to pay three times, and then if you forget one item and have to run back in for it you pay 4 times, as we did.  

So we spent half the day shopping.  We bought new balls (basketball and soccer ball) to replace the ones that were destroyed buy overuse from three years ago.  When a ball is the only toy for a bunch of neighborhood kids to share, and they play with it 3 hours every day after school, and they are kicking it across a gravel/dirt lot; well, it wears out pretty quickly.  I’m giving the balls we bought about 2 months.

water from the earth

We also bought extra sets of cutlery, ingredients for crepes, sardines, fruit, etc.

Josie, Andrew and Marion made banana filled crepes covered with chocolate sauce; not standard Congolese cuisine as a special treat for Didier’s family.  We had the Mukotshi family over to our guest house for dessert, after another delicious dinner at their house.  They enjoyed the crepes, but the joy seemed to be mingled with confusion.  I think dessert is a foreign concept to them.

Marion treated the orphans to another small gift of glow in the dark, light sticks.  They joyously made bracelets and anklets and earrings of them while they danced in the dark and made lots of noise.

the laborious way to get water

Also we interviewed a couple of well drilling companies and booked one for Thursday.  At $110 dollars per meter we are hoping that they don’t have to drill too deep.  They estimate 50 meters for a good water flow.  The pump will cost another $1,100 and the storage tank will cost $1,500.

the old well

Thursday, June 6th

Today the men went to town to buy PVC pipes, coupling, fittings, hose bibs, etc.  The prices are so high compared to America for this type of thing, probably 250% of the cost for the same thing at Lowes.  I asked where it was manufactured trying to understand the high price.  Apparently it comes from Dubai and must be shipped by airplane.  So, now I am even more thankful for American infrastructure and manufacturing.  Highways for freight and railroads for shipping are something I take for granted, but they sure make life for us Americans much easier.

trenches for pipes

The women spent a big chunk of the day painting the orphanage, and adding some artistic features and touch up paint to guest house.  The orphanage will have an ocean theme all over by the time they are done.

The majority of the day was spent watching the well-drilling process.  What a massive and loud machine.  A team of 5 men moved like a choreographed ballet of muscle, metal, mud and diesel exhaust.  They added drill shaft length after drill shaft length, as the coring bit was forced deeper into the earth.  I was a bit discouraged when, at 45 meters of depth, dry dirt was still being forced out of the well. They had to drill through approx. 40 meters of a rock section.  Fine gray dust came out for a long time.  Finally at 55 meters sludge started flowing forth and at 60 meters we had the full geyser effect.  They finished at 63 meters.  The thought of another 13 meters more depth than we had planned, and was not encouraging.  In fact I was a bit anxious, frustrated and discouraged by this.  I had to take a deep breath and acknowledge God’s sovereignty at this point.  

oozing sludge!

Here is the reality though to put that extra cost in perspective.  

1. At least we didn’t have to go 100 meters down!
2. When I built my house 4 years ago I had to pay $14,000 to connect to the city water system.  And I still pay $40-$50 a month to use the water.  Here the only additional monthly cost will be a bit of diesel fuel to run the pump.  
3. These fellow believers have been caring for 20 orphans, in addition to their own 7 kids + 1 nephew (they’ve essentially adopted), and themselves and their workers.  They have been doing this with a hand drawn well, and daily carry water in 5 gallon containers from the well to their houses.  If you want some real perspective on this, go fill up two 5 gallon buckets (or get two forty pound weights) and walk 50 yard down your street and back with them.
4. That extra cost spread out over the next 10-20 years will be pennies per day.
5. Wow, we are getting 60 liters/min!! That alone is worth the extra cost.
6. They will be able to irrigate their land with that much water and cut food costs.
7. We are planning to put a spigot through the wall of the compound so the whole community will have clean, uncontaminated water.

So, why am I going on and on about this?  Is this a plug to dig into your wallets to help out Compassion for Congo with the extra costs? You betcha!!

Until next time, hope you enjoy the pics!

Gabe, for the Wilmarths.

P.S. – We can and will try to check e-mails every couple of days but we are unable to see any replies or comments left on this blog.