Tag: water wells

Dreams of a Future

We – The Mandate – are supporting and funding the building of a new school and a water well. The Pastor has been a good friend to us for about five years now and has a huge heart for the “mother- and fatherless” children he cares for on very little. He started schooling underprivileged kids under a tree a few years ago. They now have two small buildings. He has taken care of over one hundred young teenagers on very little. There’s been times he’s had to choose between getting girls what they need for “that time of the month” or getting food. He was so thankful when we went and gave over 60 girls the Hope for Girls kits. As time has gone by and people know he takes in children there have been at least six babies just dropped off at the schools. So he has gotten widows to care for them while also trying to keep the widows and the children fed and clothed.

Boys Dormitory
The current school office and classrooms
This is what the new land looked like a month ago!

We are so amazed at how fast they have been building. School has been out for two years now due to covid and the plan for Ugandan children is to start back in January. We pray (and at the rate they are going they may well) that more of the buildings and dormitories will be ready. The building in these pictures is all ready getting the roof on!

When we left the country four weeks ago the first building was started.

This is from The Mandate Newsletter: You change the world one life at a time in the Eastern Region of Uganda in the village Ikulwe. The Mandate is doing just that by supporting “Hope of Provision for the Vulnerable Child”. Hope of Provision is a ministry that provides a school, The Global High School, along with a safe place to live for 160 displaced, abandoned and often abused young people. The school is presently operating in two rundown buildings. Pastor Kriwa Kireri Emmason and missionary Christian Welch direct a staff of five full-time teachers, nine part-time teachers and three support staff. These tenacious and resolute men and women provide leadership and Christian development for these precious young people.

This secondary school (high school) is about an hour away from The Mandate. It is being built in phases as funds are available. In May of 2021, The Mandate gave Hope of Provision a grant to purchase the land. Phase One of the buildings began about three weeks ago. The progress is astounding.

They have been operating with one building for classrooms and two dormitories for over 150 students. These are very small, rundown buildings.

It is so exciting to be part of a project that will enhance the lives of so many youths now and for years to come.

In addition to new, safe buildings, work on a water well will be starting next week.

If you would like to be a part of giving these kids the education of their dreams please click on the link below. The school is being built in phases and there are many things listed that you can donate toward.

https://crm.bloomerang.co/HostedDonation?ApiKey=pub_828bd6b7-a404-11ea-9d7f-0ab70f91e480&WidgetId=2042880&blm_aid=440320

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter or learn more about The Mandate visit https://themandate.com. If you scroll to the bottom of the homepage you will find the form to add you to The Mandate Newsletter.

Clean Water

The Mandate just put in our thirteenth bore hole in about six years we’ve been here. We try and put two a year but we didn’t get to drill any last year. (Covid messed everything up!) We always consult the chairman of the village as to where they are put. They have all been put in strategic places so that clean water is available to everyone. So many people have had to walk miles each way to get just one ten liter can of water. Living without running water ourselves I would say there are many trips for those who need water. Thankfully we have a bore hole in front of our home and I have Raelee’s friends that earn money by filling my jeri cans as they are called. We go through 10-15 some days. Just think about how much you use for bathing, flushing, washing – clothes and dishes! Don’t forget cooking and drinking.

I can go into all the steps of drilling but I don’t want to bore you with technicality! Mainly the first step is to get a professionally trained Hydro-geologist to test the best place to put the well. Where the water is and the best way to get to it.

The hole is then drilled by a drilling machine and steel encased piping is put in. Then they test for how much water is there, how much can be pumped and at what rate.

After all the testing and agreement on the correct placement of a well the pipes on and then the pump is cemented in. It takes time to dry and then the base around the actual pump is poured along with a “ditch” or run-off gutter.

Then you have clean water and happy very people!

The concrete on this one just has to dry and it will be ready to pump water! You can tell how happy they are!

New Bore Holes

We went to see two bore holes we have had put in two neighboring villages. One was just put in this week so it’s not quite done. The cement is still drying. The second one we put in had a well that was hand dug and there was just a trickle that would come out so they had to walk a mile and a half to get water. Can you imagine walking that far both ways – one way carrying at least one 40 pound water can. And that much water doesn’t last very long – I know because we don’t have running water! There was a lot of joy and dancing. But there was a little bitty lady that I went back to greet her because I didn’t think she could even walk. But it wasn’t long after I went back to the others that she came hobbling up to me and wanted to know if now that we put the bore hole on what is her property are we taking it away from her. We told her that’s not what we do, we give and don’t take. Then she got really happy! It is definitely better to give than to receive for us when we see how much these water wells mean. Even when they dig their own, many times they don’t go deep enough and the water mixes with sewage and just contributes to the diseases here. Each one makes a great impact on entire villages.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 1 Chronicles 29:14

The New Well

We are getting ready to build a fence around our property, so that will mean closing in one of the water wells the villagers use. We will be drilling another one not far from that one, where the Chairman wants it to go. The man that does this came today to survey the area and see the best place, where there is the most water and where it is the deepest. He had a little machine that looked alot like a car battery, and wires that went out from it from two sides. One man would walk a distance and the man would yell “Stop” and then right down readings from the machine. Then he would yell “Ready” and both men with the wires and the main man would walk further down the road. He would yell “Stop” and take more readings. A crowd started to build, and whenever the man yelled ready and they started walking, the kids would yell “Stop”! It was quite funny!