WELL EXCAVATION -- AGED WOMAN

Courtyard of home where well number 5 is being excavated. The bucket frame and pulley for removing dirt stands over the well where a digger works and men empty buckets of sand as the digging progresses.

View of the courtyard and new well lining rings with the forms still attached stand to the left.

Far left, supervisor from the NGO, a worker, the Moons, the woman who owns the property, workers, and family members looking on.

Newly cast well lining rings, worker emptying a bucket in the background.

The Moons watching the digging.

Worker digging. The lining round is attached to a base ring slightly larger than the liner, barely visible at the bottom edge of the liner, As the liner sinks into the hole, gravel is packed around the shaft to ease the descent, and to assure that the tube remains vertical.

Worker digging.

Moving a second liner into place. All is manual labor.

Positioning the second well liner ring. A worker has entered the well to prepare to make a hole in each ring in three places so that an iron rod can be added to attach the segments so they don't separate during the descent.

This is how they descend and ascend, even when the well reaches sixty feet deep, or more.

Worker punching hole for the attachment rods.

We talked with the landowner who has been a widow for twenty years, and found that her 95 year old mother lived with the extended family in the compound, in an adjacent room, and were invited to meet this delightful, blind, woman, who was happy to meet Mundeles (white people) and she sang a song of thanks. She attributes her longevity to the Grace of God. Their faith is evident by the images on the wall.

Mother, daughter, Sister Moon, Elder Bybee. The daughter was in her sixties. She has six children and 15 grandchildren. We did not ascertain the posterity of the aged lady.