With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3
We are so fortunate in the UK – when we want water we can just turn a tap. We have so much rain that we complain about it! After our recent trip to Zambia, Jacob’s Well Appeal was able to send money for a borehole so that our partner will be able to grow food to feed the orphans and disadvantaged children during the dry season, since the harvest for this year has been severely damaged by drought and the next harvest will not be until after Easter 2025. On Saturday, whilst it was raining heavily here, they were drilling for water in Zambia. Apparently they usually get water at around 50meters – the 1st borehole did not reach water at this depth, so they tried another site. When they did not reach water at 50meters they decided to drill deeper, at more expense, but unfortunately the borehole collapsed. At this point I was getting concerned – we had no water and it looked like we had effectively wasted the money. This was the first time whilst I have been at Jacob’s Well Appeal that a borehole I had been involved in had not been successful. It must be heart breaking for people who live in Africa that have saved up as a community to buy a borehole only for the drilling to be unsuccessful. I even wondered that perhaps God was not in this project, but Praise the Lord! we got water at the third attempt. What a relief for everyone! We do have some additional costs but it would have been much more expensive to start again, and with the same risk that we might not get any water.
The children watch the drilling which started very early in the morning and it was dark by the time they finished!
They are now getting busy planting fruit trees and vegetables to grow. Once the trees are established they will hopefully be very fruitful, but it does take a lot of watering to keep them healthy until they are big enough to cope without regular water.
We are also starting work on building a dormitory for orphans in Uganda who are currently living on the streets and also a school for disabled children in Madagascar. There is so much need in the world and we have limited resources which is why we work hard to identify suitable projects. We thank everyone who supports the work of Jacob’s Well Appeal – despite being a relatively small charity we are able to do so much because of your generosity. Please read the newsletter – we can email it to you – so that you know what we are up to.