Installing Bio-Sand Water Filters (Day 4)

Today was incredible.  We began our morning by taking off the molds on our Bio-sand filters we made yesterday.  The good news is they look like bio-sand filters and they didn't leak when we put water in them, so I would say that was mission accomplished.


****Update
One of our the two bio-sand filters we made wound up leaking by day 2 and needs to be patched.  But it will still be used after the patch job.
****


After that we loaded up 20 bio-sand filters to go install them into homes in the Nkwazi compound. 

 It was different than the rural areas we were in yesterday that were mainly spread out homes and many of the homes being hut type houses.  Nkawzi is more urban and all homes are made of brick and clay as well as all the homes are built very close together.  Nkwazi has more than 2,000 people all living in a very dense area.  We spent the next few hours installing these 20 filters for 20 families in the area.  We had 10 workers (5 Americans from team Thorn and 5 Zambians from SHIP) so we split up so that each team had one member of team Thorn and a member of Seeds of Hope to install 4 filters per duo.  

Paddy getting the job done.  Uphill no less!

I was teamed up with a very inspiring young man named Peter.  Peter is a musician and leads worship in his church in the compound of Mapalo.  This was the high point of being here so far.  For me it was very emotional being part of this.  I was hit full force with what we are a part of here.  We were giving life and health to these families.  We were giving them a better chance to live.  The words from yesterdays devotion time kept playing over and over in my head.  “Water is life.”  In a couple of these homes Peter was   able to encourage them by discussing the importance of water.  They were talking about how water was one of the first things that God created and how important it must have been if God made it one of his first creations.  It was awesome to watch Peter turn what we were doing back to God and give credit and praise to Him.  Of course Peter did all this in Bemba (the local language) so he explained it to me afterwards.  This was the evidence of what we have been sending our money to and supporting back home. 


After our 4 filters were installed we met the others back at the truck.  Then we tried to have a little organized chaos, but it was pretty much just chaos.  We had planned to hand out toys and candy to the kids in the compound and word traveled around fast so kids were coming from everywhere and rushing the truck. 

It got to where we had to climb back into the flatbed so as to not be mobbed.  It was fun even if it was a little out of control. 


A little side note on our time with the kids.  At one point the kids saw tattoos peeking out from Jake and my sleeves.  Suddenly we became even more popular, if that was even possible.  All the kids wanted to touch them and show their friends the colors and pictures of tattoos.  

Because Jake and I both have tattoos that express our faith in Jesus it was a great opportunity to communicate Jesus through pictures of the cross, the crown of thorns and crucifixion nails.  It seemed obvious that they know who Jesus is, but it was great to have that commonality even if the kids spoke Bemba and we didn’t.  It has been great each day to see a different layer of Africa.  Maybe it was the chance to see and interact with so many of the people, but it was just an amazing day over all.