Reports-here’s a glimpse of one aspect of our job

Every time we repair a pump with LWI, we write up a report. It’s three pages long, and it asks for lots of good information. We need to know all about the pump and specifics about every detail-things like how deep it is, where the water level is, when is the last time it was repaired, the GPS coordinates, all that stuff. But there are also many things on there that tell us about the community we are working in. We learn about how many people will be using the pump, where the previous water source was, what people do for a living in that community, what religions are there, how many schools, and other such things. In addition, we write down what was taught or shared at the pump. LWI used to just go in and repair a pump, pray with them afterwards, and head out. They are working on a whole different way of doing things- they want community involvement and buy in, a relevant and good way to share the gospel and involve the local pastors, figure out how to talk with people about health and hygiene habits. (All goals we are working towards in the near and distant future! ) Anyway, we  also interview a few people too, and take photos while we are there.

I am sharing this with you cause I would love for you to really get a grasp of what we are doing. It’s hard to explain sometimes, and especially when we are still figuring that out! (Thankfully, we are off to Texas soon -LWI headquarters- to get more questions answered!) But I wanted to share a few reports with you from this last week. It was the week while we had the Mississippi team here, and here are some of the things that happened…

This is two sections from the report, and this is about the community that we repaired the pump on Saturday-those photos I posted a few days back are from there. The community name is Paulette-

This particular community in Paulette was special. They only had two pumps for the entire community, and they were even sharing with the community next to theirs.  Living Water repaired this pump four years ago, and they have worked hard to take care of it and keep it working.  So, we wanted to reward this community by changing the whole pump and all the parts-even though it was still pumping out some water and not all the parts were broken yet. This was the first pump that Crossgates church was going to repair, and everyone was excited. Paulette is a village located way off the main road, so when we pulled in with ten white people, we were quite the spetical. Some of the team worked on repairing the pump while the rest of us played soccer with the kids and talked with women. We were able to talk with them about their hygiene habits and the importance of washing hands. They in turn walked us over to the local school to show us they had latrines and a special bucket thing to make sure the children washed their hands with soap. After the pump was repaired, our national LWI team member, Lafant, shared at the well too. He again emphasized the importance of keeping buckets clean and washing hands with soap. He didn’t have to talk too much about how to maintain the pump, because clearly this community valued clean water and took great care of their pumps.

Once Lafant was done talking about hygiene, Jim got up to share with the people from the community. He told them why this team from Mississippi, Crossgates church was here. He told them how people they don’t even know love them, and give so that their pump can be fixed and they can have clean water.  He talked about how important clean water is, but also how important it is to know Jesus who gives us Living Water. In addition, the pastor from the local church got up to share. He emphasized how we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus, and thanked Crossgates church for coming to visit their community. He prayed over the pump and those who were gathered and invited everyone there to his church on Sunday.

In addition, a report is usually sent to the person/church/organization who donated the funds to repair the pump. That way, they can know a little about what happened, what community they gave water to, and see a few photos. It helps to connect the people who give to those who receive clean water. The reports are lot of work, but they really are a great tool.