Greetings Water is Basic Friends,
What a trip! Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit Southern Sudan and see the work of Water is Basic firsthand. It was an incredible journey and I came back with a new enthusiasm for the work that is being done.
The first change in me is a renewed confidence that working with local leadership is the absolute most effective way of doing things; in fact, without the partnership of our Sudanese brothers this project would still be just another “worthy idea” and nothing more. Elias Taban and the Sudanese Evangelical Alliance are doing a fantastic job of identifying the needs of their people and fulfilling them through their own hard work. John Olendo, our project manager, is a great man with a very gentle spirit and hands that can fix anything mechanical. Our drilling teams are so dedicated to their work that they literally sleep in tents right next to the rigs so that no time or money is lost in transportation. But none of this could be possible if they weren’t empowered by people like you. Didn’t someone once say that the body is one unit, even though it is made up of many parts? The fact that we have drilled 13 wells and are starting on the 14th TODAY is evidence of the truth in that statement.
The second thing that moved me was the staggering need. I got the chance to actually see a rig in action, and the members of the community were overjoyed to see us. They met us in the streets singing and dancing, then took us in and told us about how they were afraid to go to their old well as it was several miles away. Further, one of their girls had recently been raped and kidnapped at the well by rebel soldiers. Now, this village has their own well close by and they no longer have to live in fear. As they sang and danced, we could hear the rig a few yards away digging what would be a literally life-saving well. It was an experience I’ll never forget.
By fulfilling the basic need of water, we’re also able to prevent the other atrocities like rape and kidnapping, and also prevent the water-borne diseases that fester in unclean drinking water like worms, dysentery, and malaria. Further, the women and children that used to have to spend hours a day getting water can now go to school and work to bring in extra money for the home. Water really is basic, and lives are changed when the gift of clean water is given. Can you imagine that all this life change only costs $3000 per well? Incredible.
Finally, I need to be honest and tell you that this project is not easy. Before, I was theoretically aware of the lack of infrastructure in Sudan, but to see it and be forced to deal with it gave me a new perspective. We first flew into Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan. To give you an idea of what Juba looks like, in 2005 the city had about 20,000 people and today it is home to 1.7 million. For perspective, that is about the current population of Dallas and Fort Worth combined. We drove 100 miles to the city of Bor, and even in our Land Cruiser this took a little over 5 hours. It rained the next morning, so the journey back to Juba (over the same 100 miles) took 7 hours due to the mud road, huge potholes, and occasional blown tires.
All this to say that transportation, especially of large machinery, is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible in Southern Sudan. This is not to mention the lack of other infrastructures (banking, telecommunication) that makes the work that our guys do even more challenging then it already is. But they do it because the lack of clean water is a reality they cannot ignore. I hope I can say the same for us.
On behalf of our crews, our leadership, and especially the people of Sudan, thank you very much for your support of Water is Basic. I hope to someday get to tell you more about what I saw and the work that is being done. For now, see pictures of the trip by clicking HERE. I actually titled and put descriptions on the pictures, so enjoy!
Sincerely,
Steven Harrell
