From dirty water to clean water – lives transformed
This is the story of a village in the south west of Burkina Faso. Myra’s Wells trustees visited this village in January 2019 and again in January 2020. In the first visit, it was easy to see the need for a well in the village. During the second visit, we had the huge privilege of seeing the well now functioning. The change from dirty water to clean water has made a huge difference.
January 2019
The rainy season finished over three months ago. During the rains, a river filled up – more of a stream than a river. Over the three months, the river level dropped as people and cattle used the water. By the time of the visit in January 2019, there was very little water left.
The trustees went on a motorbike (it was too far to walk in the heat) to see the last pond that was being used. These two boys were collecting water to drink. Someone was quick enough with the camera to capture the moment that one of them drank straight from the bucket.
It was one of the easiest decisions we have made – the need for a well was obvious. We had to send the drilling team.
Few things are straight forward!
This village was top of our list when we started the new drilling season in late October 2020. But this is a village that is about 10 or 12 km along a very poor “road”. It is a typical dirt track. However, the potholes are horrendous, worse than many other dirt tracks. While the ground was still wet, there was no chance of being able to reach the village with the drilling rig.
We drilled 14 other wells throughout November and this village – Ouadaradou – ended up as the last one in the batch remaining to be drilled. Finally, in the first week of December, the ground was dry enough. The drill arrived on site and started to go down. It got down to 90 metres, but there was no sign of water. The team tried another spot that the surveyor had marked out. Again, at 90 metres, there was still no sign of water. Could this mean that the village would still have no clean water?
Prayer helps!
We arranged for another surveyor to take a look. He arrived and set up his equipment and marked one more place where he could recommend that we drill again. We asked all our supporters to pray. The next day drilling recommenced. This time, there were encouraging signs. Still no water at 90 metres, but the surveyor had encouraged the drillers to go deeper. 100 metres came and went, then 120 metres and even 130 metres. Finally, at 134 metres, there was the glorious sight of water springing up from the borehole.
From dirty water to clean water?
The usual testing back in Ouagadougou confirmed the wonderful news. Clean water had come to Ouadaradou. After the pump was fitted, we were able to say quite definitely that Ouadaradou has been converted from dirty water to clean water.
We noticed this signpost as we drove along the road. It was not until then that we knew we were going the right way.
January 2020
We wanted to see the difference! As we drove into the village and to the pastor’s house, we wondered if we would be able to find the two boys who were photographed drinking the dirty water. There was a group by boys sitting on benches at the pastor’s house. We showed them the photos from the previous year and one of them said “That’s me!” We asked, “Do you know the other boy?” He did, and a few minutes later there were the two of them standing in front of us. We went to the well and took photos of them drinking again. This time, it was clean water from the new well, collected in a bottle, which they were drinking. They told us that, for them, it is now further to go for their water – they lived near to the river. But they said they didn’t mind. The extra distance was worth it.
Many of the village gathered together around the well while we prayed. We thanked God for His wonderful provision of clean water and prayed that there might also be conversion, not just from dirty water to clean water, but of people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Click this link to see how happy one old man is!
And to see a full list of 168 wells, you can use this link. We pray that we shall be able to add to this list shortly so that many other villages have been changed from using dirty water to clean water.
