Sunday, June 5, 2011

Kimbo PEFA - Well Dedication


The full set of pictures for Kimbo can be seen starting here at picture 24 and going till 34

Kimbo is a poor area of Nairobi.  Not poor enough to be listed as an official slum, but not all that better off either.  Though the western eye probably is not trained well enough to be able to discern the differences in wealth available in Kimbo when compared to the earlier official slums of Kibera.  The church we visited is a very large church on the edge of Kimbo, and our purpose there was to see and dedicate the new well project.  The well itself was funded by western and the local Kenyans; which is great considering that those who live in the Kimbo area don't have a lot of extra cash laying around, but of the ~$15k - $20k that was needed the Kimbo church was able to raise ~$4k-$6k of it.  I put down large estimates because I don't have the official figures in front of me, nor are they on the WorldCOMP website anymore. :-(  Either way, the locals raised some good cash which will create a much needed feel of ownership and investment in the well itself.
When it came time to drill the borehole, I'm told we had the money necessary to go down something like 900ft but we only had gone down down ~500ft when we hit an large supply of water, an huge aquifer I'm told!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

 When we first arrived there, we did the ol' Meet and Greet with everyone.  Above is a picture of the team ladies and the Pastors wife, and while I didn't spend anytime with her she is a good friend of Valerie and Richard and a powerful, Godly woman of prayer who was a great support for this whole ordeal.
 After meeting and greeting we had to get into church as they had already started!  But once we got in and sat down and the announcements were done, the worship really started moving and a groovin'.  The kid's had a circuit up in the front that they were jog-dancing around which was very fun to watch. Twirling their dresses and going back and forth in the front.

 After the worship Richard got to partake in the largest baby dedication I've ever seen!  You can see all the Mamas and the babies behind him, and that is not the family as is often done in the west, that is Moms and Babes; so at least 20 babies were dedicated.  May the Lord hold them all tightly to himself.

After the service we went outside for the well dedication, by the time we stopped chitchatting, greeting people and actully got to the well location (on the church grounds) it was rather crowded.  Eventually we pushed our way through to the front; which while acceptable always feels a little odd to me.  The pushin' and shovin' to get to the front is not something I do very often.

Prior to flying to Amsterdam to meet us at the airport, Valerie was in Israel.  From Amsterdam where our layover was 3 hours we would then fly to Nairobi, Kenya together.  While in Israel Valerie acquired some olive oil which she brought with her for the purpose of praying for people and giving parts of it away.  It isn't too often that one get's prayed for with olive oil directly from Israel.  The picture above shows her dedicating the well with a small stream of the Israeli olive oil.

Pictured above is the well pre-dedication.  This kind of well is a borehole well.  One that can't be operated manually like many hand-pump wells or 'bucket attached to a rope' well.  These wells are made by drilling deep into the ground and installing pumps underground.  It is easier to 'push' water up hill than to 'suck' it up hill.  Imagine trying to suck a water through a 500ft long straw, not going to happen as the straw will collapse from the vacuum.  So, the motor pumps the water up the pipes into the water tower pictured above.  That water tower then feeds the compound through gravity (hence it's height).  On the way back into the compound it runs through the blue building just to the right of it where it receives some chlorine to clean it.  Though I'm not convinced that that is worth the effort, increased cost and maintenance but it's there and people are drinking.

Here is the classic Kimbo PEFA Well Project picutre.  Two of Four spouts are displayed, running full tilt with clean water, with a locals hand feeling the liquid life giving gift from God.  Attached to these spouts is another large tank that fills from the gravity well mentioned earlier.

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