Quiet weekend

It's been a quiet weekend. We head back out to the well to finish it up tomorrow. On Saturday we went to the market in Dodoma and some of the girls bought kangas. The Kamloops group arrived and Bro arrived from Dar yesterday. Today was an admin day for fr Tim so we didn't go to the well but delivered some cornmeal to those in need; seniors without a family. Oh yeah, Vanessa, Danica and Katelynne made a cake... And it was excellent! It's late here. Blog more soon.

Bringing water to Chihoni, Nala! - written by the Team

The day began with finishing our first trench, digging the second, which led to the making and molding of the second holding tank. We had our usual lunch of rice and beans. We waited in anticipation as the pipes were connected and placed into the well. When the last pipe was connected, we all ran to the well to experience the moment. As the water was pumped to the surface, we all were impacted in our way;

  - As Fr. Tim let the water flow out of the pipe, and the windmill blades were turning in the wind, the villagers immediately started filling their buckets with the well water. A smile spread across Danica's face because she saw  the joy in the people's faces and she knew that she was making a difference in their lives.

  - Katelyne was filled with emotions. As she watched the villagers witness the water come out she was overwhelmed. Their excitement and joy was heartwarming. As tears streamed down people's faces she knew it was worth it.

  - Kayla was happy we got water today. She has enjoyed working with the villagers. It was  nice to see them getting this water. She feels grateful to be a part of this.

  - Nina missed the first burst of water, but she ran along side the villagers to see the second one. As it was coming out she watched the people's happy faces and was filled with an indescribable feeling of joy. 

  - Celine's experience was also a little different as she did not see the first water release. The moment which captured her heart was sharing the pure joy of accomplishment with one of the villagers. She stood watching joy spread across the crowds, as most have not seen this much water in many months.

 - Vanessa couldn't stop smiling because the water was finally coming. When she heard the water was coming she ran and was front and center to see what we worked for. As the first pump of water came out  her eyes started to fill with tears of joy. She found herself jumping around and spraying the people with water. Vanessa knew that this moment wasn't going to be her last, because she repeatly told us how much she loved Tanzania and CPPS water projects.

  - Roxanne stepped back to look at the fins of the windmill, as it spun around. When she looked up, she honestly felt something she never felt before. The setting sun was right behind the windmill. It was so beautiful. She took a step back to capture the experience in its entirety. As tears came to her eyes, she looked over her shoulder and saw Vanessa. They celebrated with a hug and a little happy dance. She knew she was experiencing something very special. 

 - Matthew felt that he witnessed a miracle; water in the desert. He felt like the group partially fulfilled the gospel, by giving water to those who have none. Watching the villagers fill their buckets with the well water gave him that sense of fulfillment. 

 -  For Deanna, the water coming out of the ground establishing that the windmill worked was cool. She did not realize at that moment that the villagers had every intention of staying throughout the night to collect every drop of water they could. 

 -  For Jamie, it felt like something had been accomplished. At the first meeting in PA, the culmination of our efforts seemed so small and insignificant, distant even. Here though, our small sacrifices and near endless preparation had come to a conceivable end. To her though, it didn't feel like the denouement, only a rising action to a climax yet to come. 

By: The 2014 Tanzania Mission Team!

                            Thank you to all those who helped make this possible! 

                              The first bucket to be filled with the water!

The villagers smiling faces.

             

                                   

                                             The amazing CPPS windmill team!

The fins of our windmill, painted with love!

Roxanne's Message

Hi everyone. I'm still using other people's blog account until I can get mine going. So we have been working hard at the village this week. I am so grateful that I have a chance to see with my own eyes what happens with these windmill projects. Kayla and I were asked by many people at home, if the Tanzania people had any input into the project. They wanted to know if we provided all the money, material and labour for the well. I hope my explanation will help people understand what it's really like here. Our group of ten raised the money and paid for the cost of the well and the windmill. BUT the main focus of this organization, I'm happy to say is education of the people, and giving them the opportunity to control their own destiny. All the workers here are local: the cooks, laundry, housecleaning, drivers, carpenters, welders, painters, cement workers, labourers, administration,etc. Some are Catholic, some Muslim. At the worksite many of the villagers, both men and women come to help mix and haul concrete. They want to help because they want to take ownership of this project. A woman named Elizabeth has been working here for about 3 years or so. She does a lot of things with the village people, helping them understand their responsibilities with the well after we are gone. Her and the villagers plan (more or less) is this: The village people appointed an agent who will be responsible for keeping track of how many pails of water he sells. It has been agreed that he will sell each pail for 100 shillings, which is about 7 cents. Please remember, this is fair, and what most people can afford. The agent must keep records of his sales as well as bank receipts. They plan to meet every month to discuss the financials and to see how it's going. The money they make will be used for any maintenance and repairs that may need to be done to the windmill or holding tanks. Any old or disabled people can get some water free. I also want to say that there is a small crew of very strong, hard working young Tanzanian men who work hard every day with us. They have been crawling up to the top of the windmill at very dangerous heights, bolting everything together. Most have been working here for a very long time, so they definitely are the professionals in the group! So it has been amazing to work side by side with these people. They have the will and the brains, they just

need the help to get the water out of the ground. Our well is 324 feet deep. Only a very expensive machine can do this. And if people could see what we see here every day it would not take much to realize that water IS desperately needed here.So our adventure continues. Bye for now, until next time, Roxanne Richards

Building the tower

The foundations have been set and we have just finished the tower. It's at least three stories tall. We placed the steel beams in the concrete foundations and then built layer upon layer. It is easily the tallest structure in the village. We used a winch to haul up the motor and some of the heavier pieces yesterday. And today we used a pulley and brought up the blades one by one. I'll have pictures tomorrow. We have also built one of two water tanks. We began by covering a mould made of burlap sacks with a clay made of... Then once the clay dried we covered it with two layers of refined concrete. We will build the second tank tomorrow. We brought some of Deanna's One World Futbols to the village today and played a friendly game of football (soccer). I made a dive for the ball and came up in a bramble of the worst burrs ever. I have a really bad farmers tan.

STOP AND BE THANKFUL

At the end of the day yesterday we gave our remaining water that we used to make cement to the villagers in Nala, where we are building the well system. This water is not drinkable but these people will be boiling it and using it for cooking, drinking and bathing. These people came from all over the village with their buckets hoping to get some cleaner water but in the end very few left with water in their hands. They are fighting for this water.. They were lining up, waiting for hours to get their hands on this water. In canada we line up and fight for the new gadgets, cellphones and video games... We take clean water for granted so much. We need to stop and be thankful for what we have.

-Katelyne :)

Why Mission Projects are important

 

Until you go see the world, see how little others have, see how happy others are with just each other, how kids can be happy with sticks and sand, see how strong they are and how much they have to endure just to get water,
Water.
When I speak water though it is not the clean drinking water that falls from your faucets, its not the water that you use to water your plants. No it is dirty water and its the only water they have ever known. Some people have to walk over distant mountain to get it because some people just can't afford to buy water off of a water truck for 300 Tanzanian shillings. It is 2014, I am 19 years old and I am making a difference in the village of Nala along with my 9 other mission teammates. In the picture below are some of the villagers who are smiling because some of them have not bathed in weeks and they are getting the water we did not need for building purposed today on the work site.

 

Sunday, a day of rest.

Well we are excited for another day of working at the well but yesterday we had a day of rest. In the afternoon we returned to the Village of Joy Orphanage. We played some football (soccer) and catch. We played cops and robbers, African style, we danced la bambs to homemade maracca's. We gave out piggy backs and put on a finger puppet show. A really cool thing was Danica letting the kids play with her IPhone, and they found out how to take pictures in less than ten seconds. Talk about easy accessibility.
Had one of my favourite gospel readings yesterday. With the seed scattered and grown among the rocks and the path and the thorns and the good soil. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.