I love the anticipation that comes with drilling a water well, the expectation of finding cool, clean water. Every time we add a section of pipe and drill deeper, I wonder if that will be the pipe that strikes water. There is nothing better on a drilling project than that initial moment when we finally find water. There are a whole lot of things that happen after that but they all hinge on that one thing — finding water.

I am happy to report that after drilling to a depth of 75 meters, we found an abundant supply of refreshing water. And what a great moment that was for our team. We all thought it was cool that we found water at 75 meters since we are drilling this well in honor of Marshall and Helen Bates, Kingsland members who recently celebrated 75 years of marriage.

Drilling for water, however, is not the only thing we have been doing for the past three days. A key part of drilling water wells in partnership with Living Water International is offering several days of hygiene training. Our hygiene team focuses on the women and children in the village where we are drilling for water.

Hygiene training is important to the health and well–being of a community. Our hygiene team covers topics ranging from how germs are spread to how to rehydrate a child after a severe bout of diarrhea to the basics of brushing your teeth. These are simple and common sense things that can make a huge difference in the lives of people who live in places with limited to no access to good health care and information.

Our hygiene team did an amazing job of teaching the women and children of the village of El Palmarcito. The only thing better than finding water was seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter of the children. The water well that we will present to the village this week will make life so much better for these kids. They will live better and healthier lives because they will finally have a reliable source of good water.

We will dedicate and present the water well to the community on Thursday afternoon. This is always a special occasion on drilling trips. Early this morning we drove past two villages where we have previously drilled water wells and both wells were in use. Loved seeing folks still using these wells. It will be no different in El Palmarcito. With precious few sources of clean water, the people of the area will benefit for years from the water well we will dedicate and present to them tomorrow. Looking forward to a great day.