Water Well Drilling

Hello everyone,

I have now returned safely to Kampala. I'm sad that the first part of the trip is now over, I've met some great people, made some good friends and really enjoyed experiencing rural Ugandan life. However I'm excited about the next two weeks of safari and fun. The last few days is a time I'll never forget. Drilling a well to provide clean water for the people in a small village outside Hoima was a brilliant experience.

As my last post was so big, and it's only been 3 days since then, I'll try to keep it shorter.

5th August cont'd

After spending time at the internet cafe on Wednesday, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and to await the arrival of the Encounter Uganda team. When they arrived they were lead up the hotel drive and into the grounds by a huge brass marching band! We could hear them coming for about 5 minutes before they turned up. It was certainly a war, welcome for them all, and fun for us to watch. The rest of the afternoon was spent either in or by the pool, yes there was a swimming pool!!!, making new friends with the Americans.

6th - 7th August

Terry and I said our goodbye to Bob on Thursday morning as he left to return to Nyamawra. I was sad to see him go, I'll certainly miss him and his stories. The first part of the well drilling team was a little dull, as we travelled about town picking up all the equipment we needed. However, we finally arrived at the drill site at half ten and began setting up. There were two vehicles transporting us around, and fortunately I was in the lead vehicle, as those in the following one spent the entire journey in the dust thrown up by the first one. Consequently they all emerged covered in red dust from head to toe.

The drill and all the accompanying equipment took a long time to set up and is fairly complicated, so I won't try to describe it now. But it is a very cool piece of kit. I'm not entirely sure how the site to drill at is selected and without fancy equipment to scan underground to find rocks and things it's pretty much trial and error really. We finally began drilling at 2pm on Thursday and quickly managed to drill down to 45ft (Imperial measurements used since the equipment and all the team except Terry and I were from the US)in an hour. We then hit a huge rock leyer, spent 2hrs drilling just 5inches into it before giving up. We left it there for the day and such was my introduction to the frustrations of drilling for water.

Returning early the next morning we disassembled the entire rig, loaded it back onto the lorry and moved 100 yards further away. This time it took a lot less time to set up as we all knew what was going on. Again, we quickly drilled down to 25ft, before hitting another (potentially the same) rock layer. So for a second time we disassembled and packed up the kit, moved another 100 yards and tried again. By now, we were like a well oiled machine and the whole disassembly and reassembly took less than 90mins. On the third attempt we easily made 45ft and then hit, you guessed it, another rock layer. However, this time there seemed to be a layer of water sitting on top of it which was what we were seeking.

For all of Thursday and most of Friday, we were out in the boiling heat, with little shade and drinking litres of water each to keep hydrated. But halfway through Friday afternoon the heavens opened. We had prayed for water and we got it. Within minutes, the 100 or so children who had come to watch had vanished and we were soaked. Luckily someone invited us into their home to keep dry for the next hour of rain and thunder. We had contemplated continuing and getting wet, but standing under a 3 metre metal rig in the middle of a field during a lighting storm seemed a bad idea. By the time the rain had stopped, there was not much time left to investigate the potential water source. Thus I still don't know if we were successful.

The well drilling experience, despite being very hard work, frustrating and at times dull, was brilliant. It was great to be able to attempt to help so many people get clean water. Incidentally, the stuff they were drinking looked like it had come out of the sewer. Everyone on the team was a great laugh and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Although only with these people for three days, I felt I have got to know them well and was sad to leave this morning, and in some ways would have liked to continue working with them.

Last night was spent chatting with our new friends and I'm feeling tired today after a late night and early morning, but I may never see these people again so I figured it was worth it.

8th August

Not much has happened today. We left Hoima with the Rev James at 8am for the 3hr drive to Kampala. We checked into our hotel then went to the big shopping centre, cinema, restaurant complex called Garden City to find internet and food. However, upon walking in we bumped into Mandy and Spencer!!! Such a coincidence. Was good to see them again and we had lunch together. Now I'm sitting in the internet cafe in Garden City. Will go to the supermarket downstairs next to get some snacks for the travelling of the next few days and go back to the hotel to meet up with the tour this evening. I expect we'll be leaving early tomorrow.


Until next time,