2022 was full of work and HOPE for the future
With travel limitations over the past few years, our team was eager to get to work. This year marked the first time that Water, Hygiene, and Sanitation projects occurred during the same week. Our mission has always been to bring HOPE to the world, through clean water, hygiene education, and sanitation and latrines, and we are proud of how that mission is impacting the world.
GUATEMALA: Mike Gillert and Jimmy Leatherwood, Country Coordinators
The year of 2022 started off with governmental closures of the borders to Belize and Guatemala. We had a substantial amount of equipment and materials spread between Punta Gorda, Belize (PB), Sarstoon, Guatemala, and Puerta Barrios, Guatemala (PB). After completing 50 wells in the southern district of Toledo in Belize, it has become very clear to us that God is leading us to move our base of operation in Central America to Guatemala. We have been given a trailer mounted drilling rig in Guatemala by Refuge International. It was in fair condition but needed quite a bit of repair and maintenance. We had stored it in Livingston, Guatemala which is accessible only by boat, not a good thing for a trailer mounted rig.
In June we journeyed to Livingston to meet with the government officials and look at potential drilling sites. We also met and traveled with two officers of the Guatemala Baptist Union (GBU). They suggested we look in the area which is up the Rio Dulce, a major waterway with its mouth near Livingston. The GBU has started several churches in that area and they all need a clean dependable source of water. We have been praying for a partner to help establish ministries in the area where we will be drilling. It’s not just about punching holes in the ground. The GBU introduced us to a church in Morales, Guatemala and its pastor and deacon. They were very excited to partner with us and offered a secure place to store our equipment and our van. This church is on the only road in Guatemala that goes from PB to Guatemala City. This works for a trailer mounted rig. Within 30 minutes of this church, we located the community of San Francisco. They are one of the churches started by GBU and it is in great need for a clean source of water. They are currently pumping water from a nearby river. So our first target well was set if we can get our rig on the road.
On this same trip, we went to see our drilling rig that we left in Livingston. To our surprise it was gone. We thought the worst. But when we met with the man whose shop had been where we left it, we were in for another surprise. He had, at his own expense, barged the rig to PB to a friend’s repair shop for safe keeping. He was concerned with leaving it out just off the street for the two years in which we had not been able to return. When we traveled to PB we found the rig in a locked compound in the shop of a man who could repair and perform the needed maintenance on the rig that we required. Plus, the rig is accessible to the road to Morales and San Francisco. Our plans seldom work but God’s plans always work. We just have to trust Him.
In September we returned to gather and move our equipment from PG, Sarsstoon, and PB to our new base in Morales. It took two days sorting and packing in PG plus two boats to transfer all of our equipment to PB. It took a full day and two boats to transfer our equipment from Sarstoojn to PB. And it took a large box truck to transport all of it to Morales. The van which we have kept in PG had to be driven 12 hours North through Belize to the border with Guatemala and back down South in Guatemala to PB. There we spent three days and several thousand dollars to get it registered and legal to keep in Guatemala. The drilling rig has been completely refurbished and is ready to be moved to Morales.
Our plan is to go back with a small crew to drill the first well with the rig in San Francisco. With such a busy year end approaching, we have set our goal to go in January and after that follow God’s eldership to the next drill site. We will then be looking for teams to join us in these adventures. With the support of faithful donors, we hope to complete 8 new wells early in 2023. God has certainly blessed our work and provided a few surprises along the way. The future looks good from here.
ETHIOPIA: Bo Jackson, Country Coordinator
With Covid-19 restrictions settling down this year the Ethiopia Drilling program is now on a path to be fully operational again. While there was still drilling, and many new wells added over the past several years progress was somewhat limited. There were two “good” wells drilled and some drilling equipment maintenance performed for the November 2022 journey taken by Hope Springs Water. Robel the Hope for Life program coordinator was sure to point out that these were two “good” wells, not just two wells. There were a total of 6 individuals from Hope Springs and 3 from the Hope for Life that were on site for the 2 week drilling expedition. There have been a total of 10 wells drilled in 2022, these are all completely functional and not a single well remained incomplete as reported from Hope for Life. Phase one of the Hope for Life projects has been completed and awaiting review by the government while the next proposal is being drafted and negotiated for the next three years of projects. Hope Springs Water has added a new element to the proposal which is to include sanitation. During the November journey, Jim Palmer initiated the first of the sanitation system builds in the region, at the site of the future Compassion International Campus. This system has been designed to accommodate the region's extreme changes in weather from wet to dry seasons with the capability to expand to a broader service if necessary.
KENYA:Damon and Candace Donnell, Country Coordinators
We shared a fruitful year with the people of Bungoma County, Kenya. In May, the Siboti Orphanage well was drilled, bringing clean water to the orphanage and over 900 families in the community.
In late October, we (Damon, Candace, Bliss and Jim) were able to travel for the first time to Bungoma, meet the leadership of the communities, and visit 3 of 4 orphanages with well sites, Mateka, Mayenja, and Nasianda. On this trip, we (HSW) partnered with the Rotary Club of Bungoma and funded the construction of 3 latrines, at three different schools, containing 10 SATO toilet pans each. These projects were complete, from the ground up, within the same week. This was a great partnership opportunity with a very promising outlook for future sanitation projects. Our last appointment of the trip was a visit to a rural area called Mukwa Chwele where the chief of the land, along with the leadership therein called us to a site in the village of Biketi that had undergone necessary underground piping and geological surveys for a well, but had been abandoned as a project, leaving the people of many villages to continue to travel for water. The leaders put together a dramatic reenactment to show us what the villagers experience as they go for water, showing us how intense relations can get between thirsty people. We are eager to see what the surveys reveal, and look forward to raising funds and beginning this next clean water “maji safi” project. These people showed immense gratitude toward Hope Springs Water in wondrous displays of singing and praise each time we would enter a new village that we had touched. Even in Mukwa, they sang and danced with eagerness to what HSW may do for them in the future. This is a region of great promise for Hope Springs Water WASH zone expansion.
NICARAGUA: Peter and Melissa Murrell, Country Coordinators
We have exciting news for Nica Team’s partnership with Hope Springs Water in 2022! The shipping container sent back in August of 2021, was finally released from customs in October. It took a lot of patience and jumping through governmental red tape, but the equipment is now on the property of Mision Bautista in Rosita. This container has two drilling rigs that we will be able to utilize with HSW teams beginning in 2023. One is an LS300+ mounted on a trailer and can travel the roads in and around the Mining Triangle. The second rig is a portable LS100 and will replace the portable rig that has allowed us to drill 6 Hope Springs Water wells over the last 3 years. This smaller can be dismantled and loaded into a dugout canoe and taken into remote villages off the Prinzapolka River and other hard-to-reach places. We already have a team coming in February to train our local team on both rigs and on the proper development of water systems for the future.
We were thrilled to be able to share Hope for Girls MHM in Alamikamba in July, as a group of teachers were gathered for training. They allowed us to share the basics of the program with them, and gladly received kits to begin using. We have been given a green light by the Ministry of Education to provide Hope for Girls kits in the schools along the Prinzapolka River. What a blessing this will be for these girls living in one of the most remote areas of Nicaragua. Next year will be the best year for Hope Springs Water in Nicaragua.
HOPE FOR GIRLS: Amy Dark, Program Coordinator
Hope for Girls has had a fabulous year! We completed our pattern and have distributed it to our sewing groups. We currently have 11 groups of women who consistently dedicate their skills and time into making our MHM kits. The kits from the brand new pattern traveled first this year to Ethiopia where 187 were distributed and women and girls received education. We have excellent educational materials to leave with the kits in order for them to be referred to and reused. We also sent kits to Kenya and the team there was able to distribute 231! It is an exciting and growing time to be a part of Hope for Girls. Our teams lovingly pray for each kit and are blessed to be able to spread HOPE to each girl and young woman.
