Thanks to my loving Donors!

"I am carried on the shoulders of

those who cannot see the landscape I describe,

 I owe them, more than my weight." 

- unknown

Thank you, all you wonderful generous donors, who are supporting me as I do the will God has led me to do. I am certain in this. As His peace rests upon my heart for this life I am called to, and as He opens doors and closes others, He leads me on. I cannot thank you all enough, God Bless You!

 “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” – 1 Corinthians 1:9

In, Christ

David Greene

Missionary Education Part 2 Pumping Water

It’s been a while since I have been able to put finger to keyboard, (pen to paper). I would like to inform you of the fulfillment of my promise to take a skill to the mission field. During my first class CHE, I asked our director Barrie Flitcroft, if there was one class that above all others is needed in the field. He told me the greatest need is repairing pumps. Statistically in Africa 200 of every 300 pumps don’t work. Even the heartiest India Mark II Pumps, if pumped round the clock by a line of women with pots on their heads, will break in 6 months. The U.N. and other NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) will drill wells all over Africa for about ten thousand dollars per well hole. But when the pump breaks, no one in the village knows how to fix it. Then someone else comes close by and drills another well.  It yields the same health and wealth results for the villagers, if you can repair nearby wells. Now women, who had to take a quarter of their day to fetch water for their villages from a populated river, can go to the local village pump again and get cold clean water. If you teach a responsible villager pump repair, they can handle any usual breaks from then on, in theory. Well, I prayed about it and went for it – the pump repair class.

 My experience of being on Equip’s campus at Providence Farms is always that of entering a secret sanctuary, or fortress of solitude. I arrived at 5:00 Sunday and was ushered into the sugar-white buildings that are kept Tillie  Flitcroft -clean ß(top standard of cleanliness) and treated to the most delicious country food all week.  You can in your spare time walk about in the green horse pastures or trek through the woods. The projects’ experiments dot your vision. There are always questions to be asked of one bush-invention or the other and there is always someone around happy and knowledgeable to answer questions. Many of the inventions and projects have been reproduced back here at home, such as a rooftop garden pot and a tippy-tap (bush hand washing station). In Equip’s large supply of missionary literature I found and created a permaculture garden and a rabbitry for farming rabbits. I want to add a barrelponics system when I can.http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/Travis/Barrel-ponics-Manual.PDF

In Equip’s classes you learn a lot through the week, and you can also learn much from the other missionaries and development workers. I am now completely skilled in eight major pumps found most commonly in third world countries: India Mark II, Bush Pump, Afrodev, Canzee/Tara, Wheel Pump, Direct-action Pump, and Pitcher Pump. We started off learning the basics of how a pump works and familiarizing ourselves with the names of all the pump parts and fixing tools.

Then we went down and one at a time took apart each pump and put them back together again. This took all of the first day, then while we the students were at dinner that night, the instructors Keith Larrimore, Lou Bradbury, and Harold Bracken broke each pump in a field related way. The second day comprised of fixing each pump. Remember we learn from our mistakes, and I’d say the most was taught on this day. Then once we had fixed all the pumps without the instructors’ guidance, our final challenge was a special break on the India Mark II, the most rugged, most commonly found pump, which incidentally is the hardest and most dangerous to work on. This one can pump water from up to 200 ft. deep. Pulling it up in ten foot pipe sections, we had to lift only 65ft, yet the  weight of the steel was so enormous no one man can do this and not without vises and C-wrenches. It takes three men to repair the pump. In this case scenario of the special break, the riser main had been disconnected from improper installation and the cylinder was hanging by the MS rod alone, which is very easy to drop down the well and then you must go “fishing”. In this one the instructors showed us an easier way to lift the pumps out of the ground, using pulleys and a tripod vs. the old method of three men, a pair of C-wrenches and a vise clamp.

 After this we covered well sanitation and water testing. Then it was time to say goodbye to all the other missionaries and go home, fully knowing how to repair all types of pumps. I got out of the class on Friday and on Saturday I fixed my brother’s back yard Pitcher Pump. Using an old innertube tire piece, I made a fully functional foot valve, the old one having rotted out and broken the vacuum, allowing the pump to suck air instead of water. I feel fully prepared to take on a pump out in the bush… just let me get some tools first.  

-      Phil 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

In Christ,

David Greene