As some of you may remember from our past newsletters, last year in May we were finally able to finish a water project up in the mountains of Chiapas in a small place named Chimix.  There we constructed a cistern to collect water from a small water source that came out of the side of a mountain in order to keep the water clean and also to store enough water to last them through the dry season.  Since the first time we saw this place, we have wanted to also be able to pump water from the cistern up the mountain to the church that is there, but because of the steepness and the distance to the church it has always posed many problems.  The first problem is that this village is only accessible by foot, so any materials have to be “hiked” into this place and it is not easy.  The second challenge was to provide them with something simple enough that they could use it but more importantly be able to maintain it.

     A couple of weeks ago, Vic Spillman and I were able to return to Chimix and finally get water up to the church using a series of plastic water tanks (1100 liters) and gasoline powered water pumps.  We installed one tank about half way up the hill and pumped water from the cistern to this tank using one pump and then we used a second pump to pump water from this tank up to the tank at the church.  Sounds pretty simple right?  Well without boring all of you with a lesson about pumps, let’s just say that most of the time the specifications that are listed for pump capabilities (head lift, gallons per minute, etc.) don’t exactly apply when you are in a jungle, at high altitude, hanging on to coffee plants so you don’t go tumbling down the mountain.  Here is where “trial and error” are the only rules and a lot of faith.  But praise God, we finally hit the right combination and got water pumping.  As an added bonus, the pastor of the little church lives below the level of the first tank so we ran a 1/2” line from the tank down to his house and installed a spigot in his front yard.  He and his family were so excited because they are the first people in this whole area to now have “running water” at their house.  The ladies are especially happy because they are usually the ones that have to carry the water up and down those steep hills. 

     The people in this area are extremely poor and cut off from many things, so we had to spend time just to teach the men the basics of how to maintain the pumps (check and change the oil, prime the pump, fill it with gasoline, etc.) and we left them with plenty of oil, gasoline(with a stabilizer added) and even the tools necessary to keep everything running.  We also brought beans, rice and cookies for all of the families in the community.

     After all was said and done, we had a time of prayer together to thank God for his mercy and goodness.  No matter how many times you experience it, when you see people living in the conditions that these people live in it really touches your heart.  To most people this would be a very crude water system, but to them it can mean the difference between life and death.  God bless, Gabe Hilliard