What to do when the well is dry?
We wanted to share this note from Brandon Stone today, our in-country Liquid Water partner project leader in Haiti. It will break your heart. But you will see how your support is directly serving the people of Haiti - it is literally a matter of life and death. Currently there are over 60 villages waiting to be scheduled so that new wells are drilled - that's almost two years backlog. These wells are being drilled with the rig Liquid Water was able to donate because of your support.
Will you pray right now for the men, women and children of Sarazen?
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I am asking that you please pray for the community of Sarazen this morning.
Sarazen: 19°34'33.72"N, 72° 3'45.00"W
Sarazen is a little community located in the Northern Mountains of Haiti in the commune of St Suzanne. We have repaired pumps in St Suzanne for the last few years and have selected it as one of our geographical focus regions for 2012-2015. We committed to drilling 10 wells in St Suzanne this year. Our LS300 was not capable of drilling the consolidated formations so we chose Haiti Outreach (HO) another NGO in Haiti that has large commercial rigs to drill the wells. Of the 10 sites that we selected HO couldn't not get their drill rigs to 4 of the locations due to difficult impassable roads. Sarazen was one of those areas.
The tragedy is that the people that need clean water the most are also in the most difficult areas to access. The people of Sarazen are those people, the poorest of the poor, that eke out a living planting yams and corn on the steep hillsides of Haiti. We had already formed a water committee and the community had completed their hygiene education classes when we found out that HO could not get their rig there. Against all conventional wisdom I decided we would take our little LS300T up there to try, if not only so that the community of Sarazen would know that when we promise something we do everything in our power to follow through. I prayed all the way up the mountain that God would be glorified and that a miracle would take place. We would drill a successful well for Sarazen to the Glory of God. I was full of hope and confident that the power of God would be with us. We drilled to 40 feet and hit sold granite. we were moving at less than 3 inches per hour. But above 40 feet we had hit 20 feet of good looking sand and 1/16" gravel. So I thought we might not have as deep of a well as we would like but at least we would have something. It developed bone dry. God is sovereign, I know that, but sometimes I don't like it. Why He didn't perform a miracle and use us to find water I don't know?
This morning I just found out that two people in Sarazen died this weekend from Cholera. I cried (FYI: I don't do that often ask Jess). When I hear of people dying of cholera the smells and sounds of working in a cholera clink come back to haunt me. I can hear the incessant wailing of mothers that lost their sons and the unmistakable smell of vomit, diarrhea, sweat. Too many people have died needlessly from cholera. One person is a tragedy, tens of thousands is an atrocity. We are in the midst of an atrocity! I don't know all the details yet but I know that a father and son contracted cholera and the father died and the son is alive. Who will teach that boy what it means to be a man? Who will take care of his mother and family? The boy himself? He is fighting for his life as well. Another boy from the village died too.
We are moving the rig and trying again in another location. Please join me is praying that God will be with us and a miracle will be preformed and that the people of Sarazen will come to know Jesus though his working though us and that Sarazen will be a Godly village because of God's provision for them.
Brandon Stone
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