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If we were not drilling we were drinking as much water as possible, resting in the shade, or playing with the kids.

Finally, once the hole was completed down to about 100 feet, we had to start putting everything else in place. First though, we had to remove the drill stem and the drill bit. We just did everything in reverse order and got it all back out.

Next we lowered some 4 inch PVC pipe down. The first piece in had lots of small cuts in it to allow water from the aquifer to flow in. We glued each new piece on and waited 5 minutes before lowering it down and glueing the next section. Then we filled the space outside the PVC pipe with gravel, then sand. The next morning, we lowered the drill pipe back down inside the PVC pipe. Once we were near the bottom of the well, a very large air compressor was attached and air was blown down the well to force out all the mud and sand. This caused muddy water to shoot way up in the air. Here you can see how muddy the water was at first.

But it eventually cleared up after several hours of being blown out.

We took the opportunity to pose for a picture in front of the water. You can see Estuardo in the back to the left. Just as we headed for the picture, he turned the air flow down. I figured he was making it blow less water out so we could get close, but then he blasted the compressor on high and soaked us with this nice sandy water.

The next task was the hardest of all. We had to lower the pump and all the galvanized pipe down inside the PVC pipe by hand. We used these large C-shaped wrenches to grip the pipe and slowly lower it; then a vice was used to hold it in place while we raised our wrenches back up to grab hold again.

When We got to the end of a pipe, we clamped it down with the vice and screwed on the next section of pipe. Of course it got heavier with each new section of pipe.

Once the pump was lowered all the way down, we assembled the top of the pump.

The final step was to test everything out.

Once we had everything working, we went back to the resort where we were staying to get cleaned up and came back to the school for a well dedication ceremony.

Many of the children and their parents came to the ceremony. Above you can see Abel talking to the crowd. He also translated as Stephen spoke to them. Then we all gathered around the well while the principal of the school pumped the well first.

After the ceremony, we stayed for a little while and visited with all the children and their families. There were lots of hugs and several of the mothers and grandmothers thanked me for coming to help them. There was a strange mix of emotions: joy, sadness, hope, and love. It was bitter-sweet to be finished with this project; it was pretty hard to leave.

Filed under: El Salvador, Faith on May 31st, 2008