Pella Bible College is the second of three projects being financed by Global Heal th Ministries. This project is to provide a water source to the bible college and the people living near the bible college. This project is to help the students to have more time to study and become evangelist by providing a clean water source closer to their homes and the school. Currently, the closest borehole and hand pump is about a 10 to 15 minute walk. The borehole was finished two weeks ago in fractured basement formation. Two other attempts failed when the contractor who said they could drill the borehole. Got to the basement and quit taking our money with them. Yakubu is still trying to get money back from one driller. Most of the money for this borehole is coming from a Danish Dairy Farmer. Citizens Into Action contributed last year to keep the work going and Global Health is adding some this year.
Thursday drove to Numan to see it there were any tools we could use in the water storage area and Yakubu had to go to the bank there. Back in Jimeta/Yola we bought the pump, riser pipes, eight 50KG bags of cement, wire mesh and some more tools. We used a different pump shop and got the pump and pipe for less money. The pump was new and even had an installation manual inside. The pipes were a problem. The pipes arrive in pre=threaded 6 meter lengths and are then cut into 3 meters and the cut end in threaded. The threading was a problem. Some were short others could not accept a coupling. We did not check under the plastic caps on the pipes that were pre-threaded and did not check the threads on the couplings. As we drove away from the shop I shoved a pipe out of Yakubu’s way so he could shift into third gear and took the coupling off. It only had two threads. So the unscrewed each coupling and returned two pipes. Thursday was a long day, but Friday was longer.
We left Jimeta at 7:30 for Pella. I have not been carrying my watch and forget my cell phone so I am not sure how long it took. With a stop in Song for fuel and a stop at the Shallholma Secretariat, it was probably after 10 AM when we got there. The school had been told to get sand a gravel to make concrete for the base two weeks earlier. Cell phones do not work in this valley. Yakubu had text messaged them to tell them we were coming. When they leave the valley they will get the message. We should have waited for confirmation that they knew we were coming. They had not started to collect the gravel or sand and the students were on a labor day where they leave the school and work for someone to earn some money to support them at the school. The principal was at his farm and we did not see him until almost sun down. We had to find a mason, use Yakubu’s Toyota van to drive to the river bed and haul sand and gravel back to the site. I suggested that for future projects we make a list of what has to be done before the team arrives at a site and have confirmation that it is done before we leave. It was past noon before we had diggers and a mason to start digging the foundation. The total of the mason tools was one small trowel. At 1:00 set the pump base in the first hole they dug and backfilled with concrete. Then they started digging on the rest of the foundation. Most pumps I have seen have been built on floating slabs that break in a few years. We tried to follow the recommended design from the SKAT Foundation. The borehole is on the side of a hill that will give it a natural slant. All the rest of the leveling is being done by eyeball. We gave the pump base 4 hours to cure a bit before we set the pump on. Normally you wait several days. We had problems with some of the pipes couplings. They were oval on the side not connected to the pipe. We were putting down 6 pipes and had to reject three when we could not thread them together. There is an new lesson I did not get at pump school. Test that the pipes thread together on the ground before you hoist it up into the air to thread onto the pipe already in the borehole. With all the delays we got the pipe in the ground and chlorinated just after dark. We secured the pump with a bag and instructed everybody not to use the pump for two days. Then after two days pump until you can no longer smell the chlorine.
As we headed back to Jimeta I said how good a cold Fanta would taste. We stopped in Gombi and Yakubu and Adams went looking for a cold anything. About 10 minutes later they had cans of pop and Malta. Then Yakubu went to a street vendor and got some food. Suya is a spiced beef cooked on metal wires over an open fire. Most of mine was fat and gristle. We arrived back at Jimeta and little before 9:00 PM.
Thursday drove to Numan to see it there were any tools we could use in the water storage area and Yakubu had to go to the bank there. Back in Jimeta/Yola we bought the pump, riser pipes, eight 50KG bags of cement, wire mesh and some more tools. We used a different pump shop and got the pump and pipe for less money. The pump was new and even had an installation manual inside. The pipes were a problem. The pipes arrive in pre=threaded 6 meter lengths and are then cut into 3 meters and the cut end in threaded. The threading was a problem. Some were short others could not accept a coupling. We did not check under the plastic caps on the pipes that were pre-threaded and did not check the threads on the couplings. As we drove away from the shop I shoved a pipe out of Yakubu’s way so he could shift into third gear and took the coupling off. It only had two threads. So the unscrewed each coupling and returned two pipes. Thursday was a long day, but Friday was longer.
We left Jimeta at 7:30 for Pella. I have not been carrying my watch and forget my cell phone so I am not sure how long it took. With a stop in Song for fuel and a stop at the Shallholma Secretariat, it was probably after 10 AM when we got there. The school had been told to get sand a gravel to make concrete for the base two weeks earlier. Cell phones do not work in this valley. Yakubu had text messaged them to tell them we were coming. When they leave the valley they will get the message. We should have waited for confirmation that they knew we were coming. They had not started to collect the gravel or sand and the students were on a labor day where they leave the school and work for someone to earn some money to support them at the school. The principal was at his farm and we did not see him until almost sun down. We had to find a mason, use Yakubu’s Toyota van to drive to the river bed and haul sand and gravel back to the site. I suggested that for future projects we make a list of what has to be done before the team arrives at a site and have confirmation that it is done before we leave. It was past noon before we had diggers and a mason to start digging the foundation. The total of the mason tools was one small trowel. At 1:00 set the pump base in the first hole they dug and backfilled with concrete. Then they started digging on the rest of the foundation. Most pumps I have seen have been built on floating slabs that break in a few years. We tried to follow the recommended design from the SKAT Foundation. The borehole is on the side of a hill that will give it a natural slant. All the rest of the leveling is being done by eyeball. We gave the pump base 4 hours to cure a bit before we set the pump on. Normally you wait several days. We had problems with some of the pipes couplings. They were oval on the side not connected to the pipe. We were putting down 6 pipes and had to reject three when we could not thread them together. There is an new lesson I did not get at pump school. Test that the pipes thread together on the ground before you hoist it up into the air to thread onto the pipe already in the borehole. With all the delays we got the pipe in the ground and chlorinated just after dark. We secured the pump with a bag and instructed everybody not to use the pump for two days. Then after two days pump until you can no longer smell the chlorine.
As we headed back to Jimeta I said how good a cold Fanta would taste. We stopped in Gombi and Yakubu and Adams went looking for a cold anything. About 10 minutes later they had cans of pop and Malta. Then Yakubu went to a street vendor and got some food. Suya is a spiced beef cooked on metal wires over an open fire. Most of mine was fat and gristle. We arrived back at Jimeta and little before 9:00 PM.
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