Work Begins on The Bore Hole! Friday, May 28, 2010

They brought their equipment in yesterday afternoon, and started work this morning! Dozens of villagers come and sit for hours watching them work. The chief is being installed tomorrow, but they say they will continue to work. Even if there is a lot of traffic and activity down the hill in the village proper, they will be here. The NGO is still adamant that there will be no submersible pump, and the women must continue to carry water up the ladder to fill the polytank. The chief says we must trust the NGO, they know what is best for us. Just another form of colonialism as far as I am concerned, but nobody wants to go against their chief. The committee members are thrilled to see the work begin, and so am I.

The owner of the drilling company has assured me privately that he knows how to get around these NGOs, and there WILL be a pump. Says he has heard what good work the committee and I are doing, and he will be sure we get what we need. I’m not sure how that will work, but I’m really glad to hear it. I think he is a really good guy, I trusted his information a lot during the struggle to find a contractor, and I was really glad when they gave him the contract. (I heard that the NGOs reluctance about him was because they thought I was getting a kickback! They call it chop here, and it’s so common that it’s a regular part of the Ghanaian mindset.)

Big Delays on the Bore Hole! Tuesday. June 1.
One of the pipes has broken off in the ground, and they can’t get it out. They must wait for a different kind of pipe to come from the factory, so they pull their equipment off to another job. I think they are probably just juggling worksites, which happens routinely with contractors at home, so I am not too concerned. Mr. A, the owner, assures me it won’t be too long before the stuff they need arrives from the factory, and they will drill until they reach “ancient water”.

Monday, June 14.
Mr. A says his crews will return Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. He assures me they will install the underground plumbing to the two poly tanks, so there will be no need to retrofit. He also tells me not to worry, that everything will be the way we want it.