WaterAfrica went to Africa because of water. Water is a gateway to life, health, production, education, and hope for the future. Because of our partnership, World Vision orchestrated this trip so we could see what has been done, what is being done, and what still needs to be done.
Our first day in the field promised to be filled with joy and inspiration. Even as we were realizing the realities of village life, we were seeing the transformation that water brings. Our first stop was in Magoye ADP where 2 years earlier, our team had seen the great need for safe, accessible water. We joined Endless and her community to celebrate the arrival of clean water and all its possibilities.
We rode that high into the afternoon with a stop at a drilling site. WaterAfrica's fundraising helps support the new drill rig for World Vision's ZWASH (Zambia Water and Sanitation Hygiene) program. We had come to see the team in action!
We arrived after the drill team had done the boring work....setting up and drilling the initial depths where no water was yet expected. When we showed up, anticipation was high. We unloaded from our vehicles and eagerly came alongside the gathered community.
Being on WaterAfrica's communication team, I expected this stop to be a highlight for me. But I had a personal investment as well. I tell the story too often, and I can never get it right.....
Four years ago, when David and I chose to give money from our accident settlement to WaterAfrica, we knew the theory of lifechanging water and we never debated the gift, but it was mostly just money and values as we handed Bill that check. Several months--and a lot of head injury anguish--later I was sitting at a presentation at our church listening to the report from a "Go-Team" which had recently been in Zambia. They were alive with details about their visit to a drilling site where, after much drama and prayer, they had seen water spring forth! It was a fantastic story. For me, it was a life-changing story.
Emotion choked me as I sat and looked up at the slideshow pictures of kids around that water hole. It felt like everything crashed in on me in that moment. Our gift was no longer theory and values. My life was so frustratingly NOT what I wanted it to be. And yet, out of my life came hope for kids like these. It was an experience I can never describe accurately. An experience I'm often embarrassed to talk about. An experience that still mysteriously crashes in on me as I continue to realize "what you meant for evil, God meant for good".
And here I was in Zambia four years later.....Waiting and watching for water to spring forth from that dry, dusty ground.
Waiting and watching is what we did. I have a lot of video footage to prove our high hopes and expectations. Any minute now....water would flow! I'll save the technicalities of the process for another place, but the watching and the waiting.....you can imagine:
You may already know the rest of the story. Or you may be suspicious because you haven't seen any of my video footage yet........The truth is, the watching and the waiting didn't seem to have an end. The excitement turned to boredom. The kids went to play in the field. Judy and Georganne went to play with the kids. I would have gone to play with the kids too, but I was watching and waiting. And filming.
The boredom turned to discouragement. The drill team had unsuccessfully drilled for this same community just two days earlier. This was the 22nd well that the ZWASH team had drilled with the new rig. Only two had been dry, but this was about to become the third.
WaterAfrica had come to Africa to see water. And there wasn't water.
With a two hour drive still ahead of us that evening, we had run out of watching and waiting time. The drill team had nearly run out of hope. Water had been expected at 54 meters. They had drilled 57 meters.
We gathered to say goodbye. And to pray together.....with disappointed hearts still recognizing that God, in his infinite wisdom, knew exactly what was needed.
We left. And drove maybe 30 minutes back to the main road. Where we received the text--The drillers had continued on to 64 meters. And found water!!
It was exactly what was needed. The work in Africa is ultimately not about us. God depends on us to do our part. We had raised awareness. We had raised funds. And we will continue to do that. But it is God who transforms lives.
At the end of the road.....God IS
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