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One of the challenges for the remote villages of Haiti is the absence of potable water, and it's no different in Zorangé. We have attempted to dig a well by hand but we were unsuccessful. At a depth of about one hundred and fifty feet it became too dangerous to allow the men to continue digging by hand. We are still working diligently to find ways to provide potable water to the community. Why not just get a drilling rig to dig the well? That would be a remarkable feat. The village of Zorangé is located high up in the mountains where there are no roads. The slopes are very steep in several places, and to make that attempt it would take a miracle. When we travel to Zorangé on our mission trips our large wheeled busses have to stop and drop us off about 2 miles from the village. Then we climb / walk up the mountain with all of our supplies. The villagers all very helpful as they come down and help us carry the load. But pushing a drilling rig up the mountain is not something we are willing to attempt. Though in January of 2005 we had a huge surprise.
We reached our destination, but many of our supplies were still at the bottom of the mountain. So after resting for a bit we were getting ready to head back down and get more. Then to our surprise we heard a horn, a truck horn beeping! We all started to go in the direction of the noise. As we crested the top of the mountain we saw a bunch of people around a flatbed truck with metal sides to protect its' load. The people were laughing and cheering, many had tears in their eyes. In the center of the group was our founder Jean Elade with the truck driver. Then we noticed in the back of the truck were all of our supplies that we left at the bottom of the mountain. Apparently someone dared this man to attempt to drive up the mountain.and he made the treacherous climb! So as you can imagine, there is now a holiday in Zorangé to commemorate the first time a large truck made it to the top of the mountain. Since that day we have been using similar trucks to bring supplies to the village for the school we are building. Unfortunately, a drilling rig is much larger than that, so we are still looking for other options. In our upcoming trip in January 2007, an engineer will accompany us and will conduct a survey to determine where water maps may be located. It is our hope that eventually we will have access to drinking water. Such access will allow us to start the construction of a Hospital in Zorangé. Another option.anyone have a helicopter and rig they want to donate? Hahaha! That would be a tremendous event in Haiti. We welcome all assistance in this matter. For clean, healthy water is needed.
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