Digging a Well In El Salvador

At the center of our dream for Springtree LED is to give clean water through Living Water International. You can find out why here. We wanted to make it personal, so we funded a well digging trip. Two of our team members flew to El Salvador for a week. The goal was to provide a source of clean water for a community, and to teach hygiene lessons for improved health.

Day 1

We flew into San Salvador and met up with our team of ten. They were truly a wonderful group of people. We drove to our compound, which is the base for all the drilling and repairs in that part of El Salvador. It was absolutely beautiful. I had not expected it to be located on the Pacific. We got to meet our local team, including the master drillers we would be helping.

The local team is what really holds everything together. They go into the communities before hand, establish relationships, and plan out the drilling site. 

Day 2

We visited the community. The one we were working in is Miramar. A good english translation would be Seaview. They had decorated their community with balloons for us, and made as a welcome banner. We spent the first part of the day scouting out the community, and its existing water sources, none of which were clean to drink from. After lunch is when we started drilling. We were drilling through rocky formation, so it was slow going. 

Day 3-5 When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

Day three was when things got tough. The morning prep went well. We hand sifted the gravel, and got the equipment ready, but the drill started having technical difficulties. The bit got stuck, and it took time to free it. The pressure the drill rig was under caused it strain, and broke it at various points. We got very little drilled the next two days. Our coordinator said that he had never been on a drill trip that had had as many technical problems. We wouldn’t of been able to get a bigger rig up to the community with unpaved roads A positive though was that the technical knowledge of our company’s president was very useful in doing repairs to the rig. By day five we every finished drilling, and started inserting the pvc pipe.  

One of my favorite parts was cleaning the drill rig at the end. A torrent of clean, cold water was pouring up from our well, making it the opportune time to clean the rig. The day was hot, and so the cold water falling on my back was refreshing. We were cleaning it for use at a community I would never see, who would get a well I would never use. The water and sun created rainbows at our feet, and the community was around, excited to see the water.

I was so proud of the local team. We had to leave by sunset everyday for security reasons, but they stayed and worked late to finish the well in time.

Day 6 

We had a dedication ceremony and showed the community how to properly use their well. They were so excited, as were we. We played games with the community, and said our goodbyes after lunch. We spent the rest of the day with our team seeing the beautiful country.

Day 7

We flew home, with changed hearts. 

My favorite part of the trip was getting to spend time with the community. They gave so much, and so freely! The men helped us work and the women fed us lunch. They made for us meals that they would only have on special occasions. Delicious Soup and hand made tortillas from corn. My favorite part was playing with the kids and getting to love up on them. Our team had brought them footballs, frisbees, and jump ropes to play with, and in a little field next to where we ate, we played a hodgepodge of dozen games at once. Playing definitely transcends language barriers. 

We went into a community with no clean drinking water, and left with a working well. There is no better feeling in the world!

We Just Want to Thank You! Its your continued loyalty that allows us to give!!