Living Water

Hi Everyone,
The above picture is the "before" picture of the borehole that was recently drilled in the Kisayhip Village on the village Doctor's compound and the picture below is the "after" picture from yesterday afternoon's dedication of the borehole. The man in the orange Nigerian dress is the Chairman of the village and he said a few words during the ceremony, as well as Pastor
Dauda who gave the opening prayer.

We pumped the water out and allowed the children to fill little bottles and some do some typical children's behavior of playing in the water. It was a VERY hot afternoon and the water was truly refreshment in a dry and dusty land. This reminds me of the Scripture that says: "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" John 4:13&14

These women to the left are some of the widows from the Catholic Church in the village. The dresses they are wearing were part of the Widow Outreach we had a few weeks back where we measured the widows in the village (around 38 of them) and had an outfit made for each of them. They just received the dresses this past week so it was fun to see them wearing them yesterday. At the dedication ceremony, these widows sang a couple of songs which was a pleasant surprise since we weren't expecting it.

We probably had close to one hundred people from the village show up and there was a real sense of celebration to the event. Something we take so for granted in the United States (water), is truly a reason for rejoicing in the village. It's the end of the dry season here in Nigeria and many wells have run dry - so this borehole (which won't run dry - because it's deeper than the wells) can make a difference in the health of the villagers - since this water source will be cleaner and purer but it can also make a physical difference in their lives as this water source is closer so they won't have to walk as far to get it, and it is free and THEIR water source. Someone in the states paid for the drilling of it, but now it belongs to the villagers.

This last picture up above is of some bouganvallia (I think this is mispelled) that is right outside our apartment (we're to the left - and Corrie and John are to the right). A year ago when we came these weren't here - see how quickly they have grown. And they bloom in the dry season, which I've never understood. They require very little water, which I also don't understand. These flowers are all over Nigeria and the colors are rose, bright pink, orange, white and red. They're absolutely beautiful. God shows His creation in such amazing ways!!

We have a team here from Ohio and they're a great group of businessmen (and one woman) that are very excited about aquaponics and they're making a "model" in the village that will hopefully become the real thing in helping the villagers be able to successfully grow crops all year round using very little space.

Chat with you again soon.

In-joy,

Eileen and Crist