Just boarded my flight to Panama! That huge bag I am carrying is full of great supplies for the community – thanks to everyone who donated first aid and hygiene supplies. I am so excited to work alongside the Wood family again. I will be focusing on hygiene education and sanitation facilities. Special thanks to … More So Long!
Here is a 2 minute photo montage video from the last 5 months worth of projects. A quick synopsis: Costa Rica (spanish school) El Salvador (spring water source scout) Panama (well drilling, borehole) Haiti (latrine construction, livestock) Ecuador (hygiene, sanitation, water management community training) Ecuador (water purification installation)
We are rushing out, but here is a quick pic of the finished well & pump!
We got 1 point for breaking into a great source of water a couple days ago, but we couldn’t hold the lead long and Panama tied us by pouring rain last night/drizzle all day today that altered how we develop the well. Around 6pm, Panama took the lead with another point by releasing swarming termites … More Panama: 2; Water Team: 1
We spent the entire day trying to resolve our filter pack (the material that goes between the borehole wall and the PVC casing) dilemma. We spent the first half of the day breaking large rocks into pea-size rocks. Hours of hammering rocks resulted in only half a gallon of pea-size gravel. We wanted 10 gallons, … More Rocks vs Shells
Every time we cover up our boreholes for the night, we repeat to the locals (especially kids) “no poo poo, no pee pee” which seems to be universal even though the Ngobe people speak a dialect very different from Spanish (and English!). The people always giggle about it, but it is a very reasonable request … More No poo poo. No pee pee.
We anticipated reaching water by (at most) 15′ based on existing information, but this is the driest this region has been (at least during the two years that our hosts have lived here) so we keep digging dry shale from the ground. We left the borehole at a depth of 31′ when we broke for … More 31′ and counting…
I slacked a bit when I first got home from Costa Rica so I didn’t actually finished my laundry from that trip until yesterday – just in time to pack for Panama! I am heading to Isla Bastimentos, Bocas del Toro (see the red pinned location on the map above) to scout, test and drill … More Off to Panama!
How Many Cows 