This. This is the reader’s digest recap of your impact so far!
San Carlos – 2015
(45 families with clean water!)
I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach. As I stood in the community of San Carlos, I thought, who am I to be so lucky to represent all of you back home. I met the Water Committee. I told the community about our group. I witnessed the well-drilling. I captured it on video. I shared my eye witness account of it. The hairs stood up on my arms. I was positively struck by the reality of it all.
I returned to San Carlos in 2019. The community now has a water tank and a distribution system. Little Herson is five years older. And his mom, Diomara, is still the treasurer of the Water Committee. Angela is still sweet and kind. And Marga is still swarmed by grandchildren.
San Carlos has made me appreciate, perhaps even long for, that split second when you lock eyes with someone in faint recognition while you both search the recesses of your mind and try to place the other. It’s a pretty great feeling when that split second ends with a smile, revealing recognition despite the lines of time.
Sagrada Familia – 2016
(30 families with clean water!)
While I have not visited Sagrada Familia since 2017, I do share Candida’s story often. I can still hear her voice, softspoken, and feel both of her hands, calloused and hard, around mine. I can still see the kids in this community taking turns pumping the glossy red handle of the newly drilled well and squealing as the water, cool and clean, spills out.
This is a community I had visited three years in a row – once in 2015 before the well was drilled and when I learned about the T-shirt filtering, once in 2016 after the well was drilled, and once in 2017 when my sister joined me in Nicaragua. And while I understand through our partners that this well continues to provide for Sagrada Familia, I will endeavour to visit here again soon. To share another handshake with Candida.
El Horcon – 2018
(50 families with clean water!)
After some patience, some civil unrest, and some faith, the well in El Horcon, the third funded by this group, was drilled at the end of 2018 and the bright red drilling rig seemed only fitting to be on site during the holiday season. I visited the community in the spring of 2019 and saw for myself that the third time is, indeed, a charm.
With El Horcon I learned patience. Sometimes good development takes time.
FOUR the well of it – 2020
It’s not too late to be part of this story. Join us!
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