One WELL of a year!

One WELL of a year!

The 2013 Journey reminded me of a long hike up a steep mountain trail.  Every step arduous, the pace seemed too slow, you wonder if any progress was really being made and if the journey was really worth it.  Two steps forward one step back. Yet at the same time, in the middle of the journey, when you stop and look back, you are suddenly amazed at how far you have actually come. Your perspective is totally changed as you look up from the trail and now look out to beautiful vistas.  The valley where you started seems far away and you seem closer than ever to your goal. You are reenergized, ready to look back down to the trail and start marching on again to new heights. 

In my opinion, one of the best things to come out of the 2013 journey was the consistent performance of the Village Drill and to see the Drill set a new standard for manual bore hole drilling.  The Village Drill has set new records for both speed and depth.  A good example of that was in Zambia where our trainers and the Zambian village crew drilled 8 successful boreholes in just 10 days.  The boreholes ranged in depth from 30 meters (90 ft.) to 63 meters (190 feet) deep.  To help get a sense of how deep that really is, just imagine drilling down by hand the height of a 19 story building.

However, as impressive as these numbers appear, they are not the story.  The story is in the people whose lives are being saved and improved upon because of the success of the Village Drill. This was made possible by all of you.  The story is the girl who can now go to school because instead of having to walk 6 km (4mi) to fetch contaminated water for her family every day, there is now a well at her school.  She can now go to school all day and then return home in the evening with clean, pure, drinkable water.  The story is the farmer who was about to be decimated by drought but can now irrigate his small crop and feed his family because of a nearby well that was installed.  The story is the mother who doesn't have to bury one of her children this year, because the open water pit that was a breading ground for malaria has been replaced by a clean borehole pump. They are more healthy and no longer live in fear of dying from malaria or dehydration caused by diarrhea.  

So as we look back on 2013 we see WHOlives.org and the Village Drill are just beginning their journey to helping to save and improve millions of lives.  We are now active in 7 different countries in Eastern Africa and have committed plans to be in Western Africa and South America during 2014, and in Asia by early 2015. But none of this could be possible if it were not for our selfless donors our incredible staff and the committed business members who continue to support our efforts in bringing life saving water and opportunity to those that need it most.  I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the work that has been done.  It is a collective effort by all, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  We love and appreciate you all.

Thanks,

John Renouard 

President WHOlives/Village Drill