They really want water

This is a small spring 3 miles uphill from the village. It flows all year round. The flow is not great but it's constant. This water project plans to capture the water from the spring and collect it in a nearby cement tank. It would then flow downhill for 3 miles to a second cement distribution tank in the village. It would then be distributed from that tank to strategic locations throughout the houses.

To make this project work the villagers would have to dig a trench about 9 in deep to bury the pipe for the 3 Mile length. They would also need to do all the labor to construct the cement water storage tanks. The village is also responsible to provide a couple of people to be trained to be the water system maintenance crew. They also need to develope a system of taxing or assessing each household a small amount each month, probably $0.50, to provide a pool of money to purchase maintenance parts when needed

In spite of this project being mostly all materials and very little labor costs it will probably run about $35,000. The benefit will be that the village will no longer need to buy water from a water tanker during the dry season. It also means that the local Catholic church and the local school will now have running water. There should be enough excess water that they will also be able to make a village Farm.

The villagers are very excited. I kept having to temper their excitement by saying that I only collect the information and do not approve the project. After I get all the details in the project I need to write it up and submit it to the area office in Hong Kong for approval. Because this project is relatively large approval may be difficult or may have to wait till the end of the year to see if there is excess money.

Here is the Catholic Church that would be a recipient of the new water system. The pipes you can see at the right of the photo is part of the water system owned by the city of Dili but not available to the local residents.

On Saturday we went over to Januario's and Domingas house so they could talk to the missionaries in Indonesi over our computer. Afterwards they served us lunch. We feel bad sometimes. They are poor and yet they prepared this huge meal. I think they've learned what we like so they only serve things that Cheryl and I eat. The bowl on the right with the pink spoon is a mango and banana salad in sweeten condensed milk syrup. The things on the wood skewers in the center is chicken. There is rice up in the upper left-hand corner and below that is some noodles with chicken and then salad in the large round bowl. It was actually delicious.

This is a picture from one of my runs. The trees in the background are interesting. They are growing in the ocean. They are in the water even at low tide.

These are the missionary pamphlets we have for the church. They are in Bahasa because there are no pamphlets in the local language here. The mission president is coming soon and so we gave him a picture of the pamphlets we have remaining so he can bring us the ones we don't have. We go through a lot of pamphlets here. We have them out in a common area and our English students often take them.