On August 1, the last of our guests left. Troy is back to the USA and college classes, while Bolivar traveled to Santa Cruz for some additional training in well drilling. It was really quiet around the Internado, especially after having guests here since June.

We did have some excitement on August 6, which is Independence Day in Bolivia. All of the students were in the parade in Ixiamas. The girls were majorettes all dressed up in their costumes, hair and makeup to perfection. What a good time they had fixing each other’s hair and makeup with the help of Veronica (the dorm mom). Rachel and I cooked chocolate and carrot cakes along with cornbread muffins to sell in town. We set up our table in front of the town government office where all the festivities were taking place. We had mocochinche, which is a fruit drink made from dried peaches with cloves and cinnamon (really good), and our cakes for sell. It was a good day for sales; we sold out and cleared more than 300 bolivianos, while watching the parade of each class of all the local schools.  It was quite a parade and fun day.

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Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. She is now in her second year as an intern.

The last two months have been very busy with visitors at the Internado. On June 14, Rachel’s parents, Marcia and David Parsons, along with interns Olivia Singleton and Troy Wetherholt arrived in Ixiamas. Each of them worked on many projects around the internado. Troy was here to assist Bolivar Sanga with the water projects in many of the surrounding communities. Bolivar has trained with Water for All, International (WFA) to learn this appropriate technology that uses manual power instead of machinery to dig wells.

The first water project was in Puerto Ruso, where with the help of the Tshimane Indians that live there, two clean water wells were drilled with man power and no mechanical systems. You may read more of the water projects in Troy’s previous blog posts (click here and here).

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We have two YouTube videos to share with you. The first video shows some of the well drilling that Bolivar Sanga is leading in communities near Ixiamas. Troy, our summer intern, shared about the drilling in his previous posts. SIFAT learned how to use this manual drilling system from Water for All International. If you have been reading our blog for a few years, you may remember in Spring 2008 when Ixiamas intern Addison traveled to Santa Cruz to learn how to drill from Terry Waller of WFA. Since then, SIFAT has been teaching this technology in the Practicum and Field Study trainings.

The second video was made by internado director Rachel Parsons Tenorio, Mateo (Rachel’s husband) and her mother, Marcia Parsons. It will give you an overview of a short-term trip to Ixiamas – from traveling to seeing the town to current projects around the internado (boarding home). If you are interested in taking a team to Ixiamas, please contact Peggy (perdidopeg@aol.com) or Ivan (romani@sifat.org).

Plans had been made to provide the community of Santa Fe with a well, and on a Monday the community leaders gave us the word to come. On Tuesday, after a fifteen minute ride from the Internado, we were dropped off in Santa Fe with the materials. We arrived to find only two workers, but in the afternoon more workers showed up. For the next three days with enough laborers, we drilled 30 meters. During much of this time, I was making the outer filter with two inch pipe, plastic tarp, contact cement and a saw. We installed the filter and pipe, filled sand in around it, and began pumping water to clean out the well.

Working in Santa Fe was much easier than working in Puerto Russo because it is so close to Ixiamas. Bolivar and I have been able to sleep in comfort at home in the Internado and either be driven to the site by car or take the 40-minute walk. The week ended with only the pumping mechanism left to be installed.

Sunday (July 11) a mission team from Trinity UMC in Birmingham arrived. The men with the group had come to help us with well drilling.

After a long sleepless overnight flight to La Paz and bumbling through customs and baggage claim, I was given a warm welcome to Bolivia from Angel. He showed me the city of La Paz as I tried to acclimate to the altitude and new culture. At noon I met Mateo at the airport and took the flight to Rurre. I was excited to see the jungle and be in the warmer climate. I met Rachel, her parents and Olivia, and the following morning, we were in a minivan on the bumpy road to Ixiamas. (Picture at left is the river in Puerto Ruso, the community’s main water source)

My work in Bolivia for the two months I am here is to install wells in communities that need a clean water source. Bolivar taught me about the process of digging the well and how the pump works. My first week here we made parts of the pump from pvc pipe, leather and flipflop sandles. My training would be put into practice when members of the Puerto Russo, a jungle community, came to talk about installing a well next to their school. (Picture at right is the school in Puerto Ruso)

The process of digging the well was hard work. The drill is picked up and dropped repeatedly by a team hauling on the rope it is attached to. Water brings the dirt up from the drill and through the pipe. After three days the drilling was complete. Bolivar and I came back to Ixiamas, and tomorrow we will go back to finish installing the well.(Picture at left is Troy and Bolivar demonstrating how to dig the well)