|
So, the third week in April we started hauling rock, sand,
steel, lumber and cement. I wish all of you could take the walk
through the jungle to the water source that we have taken. Wow,
what beauty! From Paquila we would drive up the mountain as far
as we could get in our 4-wheel drive, about 2 miles, we then
hiked up to a ridge line. We were high enough that on a clear
day you might have seen the ocean. Then we descended about
500-800 feet into a ravine to the stream. Then another 1000 feet
along the stream until we came to a small waterfall about 10-12
feet high. The base of the waterfall is where they built the
tank. Within a week they had almost completed the tank and were
needing pipe. On May 2nd I went to the supplier I had picked, to
order the pipe.
Big surprise! They said that on
May 1st prices all across Guatemala for pipe, steel, concrete
and such had gone up 30%. We talked, negotiated and phoned
Guatemala City for over an hour. Bottom line, our $8,400 project
that went to $10,500 was headed for $14,000 very fast and out of
our price range. This is where I went to God and said 'hey, I
thought we had a deal, we support and follow like you want, you
provide like we need. And, this is where God smiles and says,
this is a test, keep on plugging away ol' boy. I went to another
supplier who had stopped even selling pipe because of the price
increase. A third supplier was the same story, price increases
all across the board. I had been in panic mode long before the
fourth stop. There was a little store in kind of seedy part of
Mazate. The owner's name was Jose. I explained to him the whole
thing. Jose said that he would make some calls. After awhile he
came back and said he would sell everything in his warehouse at
the old prices and his supplier in Guatemala City would sell the
rest at the old prices. The only ketch was that the entire order
had to be placed right then. I had planned to do the purchase in
3 stages. The big pipe 3" down to 1 1/2" then the rest of the
pipe then the faucets and valves. So, on the spot, and with all
the faith I could gather, I placed an order for over 30,000 feet
of pipe and 430 valves and faucets, at a cost of $9,019. The
next week the pipe arrived. On a very warm Tuesday, five of us,
loaded pipe for 6 hours onto a flatbed truck. The next morning
at about 8 a.m. we arrived in Paquila with the pipe. We only had
problems once. The side rails on the truck broke and dumped the
pipe. A little engineering, some rope and we were back on the
road. The only building in Paquila where we could store the pipe
was the Methodist Church. With about 30 guys working, we had the
pipe sorted and stored by size by lunch.
This is where the fun really started. In all, there were over
200 people working on digging and carrying and laying pipe. Some
of the pipe was suspended on the side of cliffs by rebar to get
it out of the ravine. Where possible it was buried about 4 feet
deep. Paquila and surrounding area was a honeycomb of trenches.
One Saturday morning as we were doing our regular clinic someone
came in "Santiago, Santiago come look" I am called Santiago
here, as James in the Spanish Bible is Santiago. It does sound
better than when they try to say James. Anyway, between the time
we had started, about 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., a 4 foot deep trench
had been dug across the entire front and side of the clinic. For
the record, ALL of the digging was by hand. During the next 10
minutes, as I stood there watching, all of the pipe for the
clinic and points beyond was laid and most of the trench filled
in. By the middle of June all the work was finished and it was
time to get nervous. Would there be enough water? What kind of
pressure would there be? Would we even have water? Well, you
have never seen such a beautiful sight in your life. We had
water, tons of water, so much pressure it has caused some joints
to separate. Remember, this is gravity feed.
Continue Page 3 |
|
