Team Brelsford and Schall
On February 11th Richard Brelsford and Steve Schall arrived here as the first official Agua Viva mission team. It was obvious I was excited to see Richard and meet Steve. Their arrival here was a welcomed break as I got to shift a lot of the drilling duties over to these guys and take care of some much needed errands. To give some perspective, we had been running the drill for almost 3 weeks straight before their arrival in country. Although we are still talking about a Agua Viva trip so anything and everything can and will happen. It was getting to the point that I didn’t want to come back to the well because every time I did it seemed that something bad happened. A couple of examples:
- Shortly after arriving at the site the first time, a wrench was dropped down a 20 foot hole. (Click Here) a link to a video of Richard explaining how he is going to “fish” the wrench out. After a couple of hours of attempts it was decided that having a wrench in your well permanently probably isn’t a good thing, therefore we abandoned that hole and moved over two feet.
- Second, upon my return after errands – and this happened literally as I pulled up – Richard got his hand caught between a big moving part and another big non-moving part. While the result wasn’t serious, it sure looked pretty serious and would demand a trip to the hospital. I think Richard got the best part of the deal as he found a pretty doctor to take care of him and had the girls from another team swooning over him whenever he came for a bandage change.
- After a return from a water run, Steve had a rather personal accident. Nothing permanent but his voice went up an octave or two for a little while.
At this point I was consciously trying to find things to do so I wouldn’t need to return to the site. This task didn’t prove difficult as about this time the Land Rover decided it needed a break for a day. Luckily I was already in the mechanic shop for an unrelated matter when it voiced its concerns. I mean, if there is anywhere for your car to break down, outside your mechanic’s shop is probably one of the best places.
My feelings were confirmed as I was stuck in the mechanic’s shop all day. Richard and Steve had the best drill day to date. They drilled 50 feet and were ready to case by the time I returned that day. It was awesome. Under their direction Agua Viva drilled a well in 4 days! This is a new record and a testament to the drive of these two incredible workers. This was some awesome work. I hope it was as satisfying and sweet to them to see the water burst out during the cleaning as it was for me. Our well cleaner said that this well will easily produce 150 GPM (gallons per minute). “Mucho, Mucho Agua, very good well.”
This well represents a big step in the life cycle of Agua Viva as we attempt to install our first running water system. With the addition of an electric pump, tank, and a couple 100 meters of PVC we will be able to build a mini-water system to hopefully supply 5 houses.
Are you getting excited? Has the mission bug bitten you yet? If so, we have two trips leaving in April. For more information, please contact Jensie Gobel at JensieG@fumcwp.org. We also continue to accept donations through the website at www.AguaVivaCr.com and have a list of needs posted there (click here).
