Humanitarian Activities
Drilling a Life-Saving Water Well
Our most crucial activity is providing clean, life-saving water to schools and communities. The number one killer of children five and younger in Africa is the consumption of contaminated water. These children drink the terrible water, get sick, dehydrated, and can’t recover. Far too many die each day from bad water. A child dies every minute of every day.
Our mission is to save the lives of as many children as we can by providing clean, safe water. We do this by drilling deep into the earth, typically 100 to 150 feet deep to get clean water. Our drill is human-powered and requires a lot of work to reach the water. Our teams on the ground work hard each day to provide access to clean water for as many people as we possibly can.
We completed between 40 and 80 well projects each year. If we had the funds, we could have completed more than three times that many wells.
Our Drill in Action
Developing the Drill
The Final Version of the Drill
How it Works
The Kelly Bar fits inside the wheel and is rotated with the wheel.
The Drill String is 3' long and is threaded into the Kelly Bar. The string rotates with the Kelly Bar. Once we have drilled down 3', the Drill String is unscrewed from the Kelly Bar, and once the Kelly Bar is raised, another 3' Drill String is screwed to the Kelly Bar.
The drill bit is threaded to the Drill String and remains attached until the drilling is completed. As the Drill String is rotated the drill bit drills into the ground. A typical borehole will require 35 to 50 drill strings. That is a depth of 105’ to 150’
Water Well Gallery
Our H3 Orphanage
Spending time with these beautiful children is Heaven on Earth. We will visit our orphanage as well as two additional orphanages. The H3 Orphanage has children aged three to 15 years old. Far too many mothers die in childbirth, leaving children without a mother, and many fathers can’t or won’t care for their children. Therefore, they end up in an orphanage.
We will also visit Faraja Home Handicap Children Orphanage. Many years ago, we provided Faraja Home with a water well and can’t stay away. We have fallen in love with these children as we visit them with our groups. We had a donor donate playground equipment and loved watching the children play on it.
Neema Village is an infant rescue center that cares for orphans from birth to two years old. We also provided Neema Village with a water well. When we visit this home, you will not believe it is an orphanage. It is so well built and well kept. These children are among the most well-cared-for in the country. Holding these babies brings tremendous love to your heart and an understanding that can’t be found elsewhere.
H3 Orphanage Gallery
Faraja Home Handicap Orphanage
Feeding a Primary School Lunch
Many schools cannot provide lunch for the children due to a lack of water and funding. It has become a favorite activity for our guests to prepare a few hundred sandwiches, bananas, and toys to feed primary school students. The joy on the children's faces is priceless. It is heartbreaking to see how hungry some of them are. Many of them live in extreme poverty. Following this experience, one of our guests commented that she would never again be able to say, “I need.”
