We are still in the test drilling phase, so we are using the
same group of young men on each well. When we move into the “family well” phase, the families themselves will be
responsible for providing the labor for each well. As we are still wildcatting it for now, we use a
group of young men from the Obulle community who volunteer their time and
effort to help us drill the wells, condition the wells, and to transport all
the materials to each new location. So
far this group has drilled 7 wells with me in this area. They are a seasoned crew and they love
drilling. Each person brings a different personality to the group. We have a lot of fun working and helping other get clean water.
Let me introduce you to
our drilling crew.
This is Dan. Dan is a
man of integrity. Dan has been married
to his wife Rose for 16 years. Even
though Dan and Rose have been married for 16 years, their marriage is not
complete because he still owes her father 1 cow as part of the bride price paid
by the groom to the parents of the bride.
Dan and Rose have 7 children with another one on the way soon. Dan is 37 years old, is a leader in the
community, a leader in the church, and he leads our drilling efforts in Obulle. Dan also has a huge heart for the Lord and
loves to sing and pray at each drill site each morning. He also leads worship at our church in the
village. Once during a work day, Dan sat
down with a little girl and read to her from an English children’s book that
Ronnie brought. He probably sat with her
for about thirty minutes just reading and asking her questions. He is so willing to give of his time and of
himself. Dan is a very happy guy who has
a really good laugh. He is always
smiling. Me and Dan are good buddies.
This is Ojokwan Samuel.
Ojokwan is 18 or 20 years old depending on who you ask. Ojokwan is an orphan who lives with his
grandmother and helps her take care of her place. Ojokwan is a very sweet young man. He usually has a mango or an orange to give
me when we meet. He loves dancing and
has sort of a high-pitched squeal of a laugh.
Any time there is music playing, you can find him dancing. Ojokwan is probably the hardest working
member of our crew. He is the youngest,
but he gives more effort than most. One
of the nurses here in Soroti brought a baby monkey to the drill site and
Ojokwan was so excited, he said that he wanted one because it reminded him of
his little brother!
Next we have Ojok Patrick.
Ojok is 22 years old, is single, is the practical joker of the group,
and he and Ojokwan live with Dan’s mother (their grandmother). Ojok likes to joke around but he is a very
hard worker. He likes to have fun, but
he also likes to drill. So he combines
the two and makes the monotony of drilling more enjoyable for all of us. I bought a jump suite to wear while drilling to
try and keep my clothes clean, but it was a bit too big for me, so I gave it to
Ojok to wear. It fits him perfectly, however,
it’s bright orange! I always joke with
him that in America only prisoners wear bright orange jumpsuits. He doesn’t care either way, it keeps his
clothes clean and that is all that matters.
This is Odongo Sam.
Odongo joined our group not long after we began drilling in this
area. Odongo is from a village about 1 ½
hours away from Obulle. Odongo was
forceably sent away from his village by a group of people who say he was crazy
or possessed and they feared him. Odongo
was said to walk around talking to himself all the time. So they tied him up and sent him in a taxi to
Obulle where his uncle Charles lives.
When Odongo showed up in Obulle, Charles call our friend Josh and asked
him to come and share The Gospel with Odongo.
Josh shared the love of Christ with Odongo, Odongo accepted Jesus as his
savior, and he and Josh burned the items he had in his pocket given to him by
the witch doctors to cure the voices he was hearing. Since that time, he has been very active in
helping us drill.
Arika Edward is 24 years old, is single, is a very hard
worker, is a cousin to Okok and Ojokwan, is good at futbol, is a part-time boda
boda (bicycle taxi) when he isn’t helping us, and he like all these
young men – really likes to drill water wells. He is the oldest son in a very large family.
Oinyo Emmanuel “Emma” is somewhere around 28 years old we
think. He is married to Deborah and they
have 5 children named Diana, David, Abraham, Sarah, and Colin. Colin was born a couple of days after we
finished drilling a well at Emma’s home.
Colin is my namesake and was born on April 22, which happens to be the
same day I was born. Emma is the most
joyful, happy, likeable guy in the group.
He is a very hard worker and gives his everything whether its drilling
or farming or plowing or picking mangos.
He does everything well and wants to be a professional water well
driller someday. Emma is also the
children’s and youth pastor at our church in the village.
This is Etalu James “Kenny G”. Kenny G is 22 years old, single, speaks the
best English in the group (only he has sort of a Bristish accent), has a dog
named Clever, is a very funny guy, and loves apples – though he has only tasted
an apple a few times in his life. We
call him “Kenny G” because he often wears someones old softball shirt from the
U.S. and the name on the back of the shirt is “Kenny G”. He lives very near to Ojok and Ojokwan so you
can find him at their home telling stories, hunting, or picking mangos. One day while we were drilling, Kenny G. and
Ojok were talking about having a foot race of 100 meters. Ronnie happened to be there that day and was
sitting behind them when they were about to start the race. She jumped up and took off right as I said “GO”
and had them beat for a good part of it.
She was in a skirt and flip flops and I thought she was going to
fall. But she stopped and the two kept
going. However, talk of a rematch
between Ojok, Kenny G., and Ronnie has been the topic of conversation for
months…The race has yet to happen, but they are both shamed that a girl was
beating them in a foot race.
This is James. James
is around 22 years old, unmarried, and is very quiet. He doesn’t speak much English, therefore, he and I do not
communicate verbally much. He says very little
even in Ateso (his native tongue), so I really don’t know too much about
James. He is very nice and
likeable. He works hard and quietly goes
about his work, doesn’t seem to joke around much with the other guys, is
somewhat serious, but is well liked by all.
He is a really sweet young man who I like having around.
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