iamchange’s Weblog

Our day began at 7am. We headed out to more well sites, traveling through the insane streets of Freetown…in the back of truck. Our entire week has been spent bouncing our way to our destinations in the back of a very sturdy and rock solid Toyota Land Cruiser truck. It kicks butt…including ours. The city is so polluted that we will both need to enter some type of detox program when we arrive home. Hopefully we won’t have the black lung. Nonetheless, we were able to see two more well locations that you have partnered with us on. Something that really stands out in our minds was a handpump that is right in front of a school. One thing we noticed were the amount of children in the school…not walking off to the streams for water. Actually, it was hard not to notice the kids in this school. Over 300 children attend this tiny, run down, 3 room school building. They have been waiting on government funding for months. The teachers are so dedicated the these kids’ education, that they have not even been receiving pay for 6 months due to the governments lack of involvement. And when they do begin to receive funding, each teacher will receive $50 (US) per month. We will talk more about this. Education is an entirely different initiative that will tackle in the near future. 

Water is a dire necessity everywhere we go. You can’t look anywhere in the country and not see yellow containers or buckets used for water. On every street corner people are asking us for a drink because they assume we have water. In most parts of the city and all of the villages we have been in, there has been no electricity…no running water in homes…no plumbing (other than wells and spring taps)…no A/C…you get the picture. There is great need. In fact, it can be overwhelming. But we either give up, or start somewhere. 

Speaking of starts, our first 5 projects are now providing access to safe, sanitary, clean water for nearly 10,000 people. Yep, 10,000 people now have the chance to stay healthier. Which allows them to stay in school, keep working, focus on family and productivity…they have hope! 

Last night around 7pm, after a long day in some atrocious villages, we get a call from the driver of the container truck. He was just leaving the shipping dock and heading our way. WOOO HOOO! The truck arrived about 30 minutes later and once we opened the door, we knew we were in for a long night. Luckily we had some local students living in a nearby boarding school to help us unload the nearly 100 pumps; along with parts and piping as well. As we were unloading, we began to think about the fact that each of these hand pumps will eventually have a home, in a village, on a well and will have hands wearing those handles out to get that precious commodity out of the ground. Incredible to think about. Over 97 locations have been targeted here and the list seems to be growing by the week. 

We finished up a little before midnight and made our way back to the hotel (which has electricity and running water…we aren’t that tough) and crashed. So much to do here, but we are so encourage by what happens when people step up and start moving. 

CHANGE BRINGS HOPE! 

Today is a day that will most likely be etched in our minds forever. There is a reason that the UN lists Sierra Leone as the “least livable country in the world”…because it is. Trash heaps, utter poverty, overpopulation, poor infrastructure, a floundering government….I seriously don’t know how people survive. Case in point, a teacher here might make 150,000 LE/month (a little over $50). Rice to last a small family 1 month: 100,000 LE. Yep, about 2/3 of their wages head to a single bare necessity. The need is just so great here. That is why the work of Hydrate Hope is so important. It would virtually impossible for most people here to come up with $2000 (US) for the cost of a well rehab…especially those in the most impoverished areas; which is where we are working. 

Monday was an incredible day. We spent the day in a village called Grafton, which was basically a refugee encampment during the war (the civil war ended in Sierra Leone in 2002) and has simply remained a community. It was here that we funded and dedicated our first well rehab. It was a pretty emotional and rather overwhelming experience. That well alone provides water for 2500 people in the most impoverished village I have ever been in. It had been sitting there broken for 2 1/2 years. Our second well, which we actually got to fix today, is just about a mile from the first and is supplying nearly 4000 people. These wells should be servicing no more than 300-400 people, but there is just such a shortage of wells. While we were repairing the well, two ladies from our water partner, Living Water, were teaching the children and mothers about sanitation and hygiene. Kent got to go help the ladies teach about hygiene and sanitation while I stayed and helped repair the hand pump. His says his favorite part was getting to hold up the big flash cards….literally, flash, his first illustration card was on breastfeeding. It was just good to be among the people.  

It has been a long and emotional day. Very cool to see the joy people find in clean water. Water really does consume a day here and it is used for everything: cooking, washing clothes, bathing, drinking…

Everywhere we go (literally everywhere) and all day long, people (mostly children) are shouting “white man, white man”. It is rather funny. We are definitely a minority here…and we all stand out. 

Tomorrow we head out at 7am to go see two other projects that we have funded and then we will hopefully go and meet a ship transport at the docks, with a shipping container full of pumps. They have been sitting in a container for days; everything here is a fiasco it seems. So, if you are a person who prays, please pray that the pumps will make it into port and that we will be able to meet the transport and get them to storage so our partners can keep on repairing these wells and bringing hope to the people of Sierra Leone.

We will write tomorrow about our journey here from London and tell you about how we were almost deported as soon as we left the plane. In addition, we will update you on our findings tomorrow. Thanks for your support. Can’t wait to tell you all about our journeys. 

CHANGE BRINGS HOPE! 

Made it to London. The flight was fine. Both of us didn’t sleep…we just ate cookies and watched a couple of movies. It was like a slumber party. Except we don’t do slumber parties and there were a few hundred other people there as well and I don’t know if you can have a slumber party with a few hundred people. The fact that I wrote what I just wrote should be an indicator of a lack of sleep. And, about the only eventful thing on the good ol’ British Airways flight happened about 15 minutes before landing. A little boy, probably 5 or 6, was sitting 2 rows in front of us when he began to yell, “mummy, i don’t feel …..bbbllllgggghhhhhaaa”. The ‘mummy’ had quick reactions and pulled the barf bag out just in time to catch James’ early morning breakfast. Other than that….good flight. 

So, our plane leaving Houston was a little delayed and we started looking around the terminal to kill some time. Anyone forget an iPod? Hey, no worries, you can pick one up right here. Just be sure to bring a bunch of quarters if you want a new iPod nano. It would be more fun if it was one of those claw and joystick games. 

Friday, April 11, 2008, Matt Shepperd and Kent Coley head to Sierra Leone to follow up on the current work of Hydrate Hope. They will be shooting video and photos of the first few water projects of Hydrate Hope as well as targeting and defining the future scope of work there. Things are moving along. Thousands of people’s lives are different now because you are choosing to be the change in world. Kids are healthier, families are happier, more kids are in school, there are fewer people dying. We are honored to be a part of this movement with you. I Am Change is engaging global need head on. Change Brings Hope! -ms