Water Projects in the Jungle

Our first trip into the jungle communities was a success! The Lord was certainly with us proctecting our safety and our health. We flew with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). The plane are 5 passanger, and the flight was incredible.  The picutre hardly do it justice.  As I looked at God's amazing creation from that plane and was in total awe, I realized that it was only a piece of everything that He is...what an incredible God we serve!

We visited 2 communities on this trip, and passed through 1 community on the hike in.  We flew into Macuma on Tuesday morning and arrived about 10 AM after a 30 minute flight.  We had many adventures in our 3 day trip, but here are the highlights.  It began with the invasion of the tarantulas... one safely in between the window and the screen, but the other in the study right out side of my bedroom.  That one was killed using a machete as to protect us from any encounters during the night.

We discovered many biting and stinging bugs that find their home in the jungle.  The hikes were beautiful yet challenging.  In order to align with the culture we hike through the jungle wearing skirts.  In order to hike through the mud we wear knee high rubber boots, also known as "wellies" to the English.  It's quite the get up when trying to manuver through rivers and over logs.  Our hike on Tuesday was only about 1 hour round trip to Amazones, while our hike on Wednesday/Thursday was approximately 6 hours round trip to Mutints.  The 2 and half to 3 hour hike into Muntints on Wednesday ended with a torrential downpour.  Everyone was throughly soaked by the time we arrived in Muntints.  Not only did it downpour as we arrived, it also rained all night.  We had to leave 3 hours later than planned on Thursday in order to let the rivers go down enough so that we could cross.  We still crossed three rivers that were almost waist deep.  You kind of get used to hiking with wet socks and with your boots full of water.

We enjoyed many interesting meals during our visit as well.  It began with a soup.  I had gotten the leg in my soup and the nails and all were still connected to the animal.  They wouldn't actually tell me what I was eating until I was done eating it :)  It was Watusi, which is a rabbit sized rodent.  The men of the community had went out the night before to hunt and were successful.  The meat was really good!  It was really neat too because they would lay big palm leaves over the table and then place boiled yucca and plantains so we could eat those during the meal.  The people group we are working with is the Shuar.  They were so hospitable and kind.

The engineering...Tuesday we hiked into Amazones.  The water system that was installed there consisted of a solar pump collecting water from the spring, a water tower and a distribution system.  The water tower and the pump both serve the distribution system.  There are two houses at the end of the line that are not receiving any water.  We are in the process of trying to determine why these houses are not receiving water.

The water system in Mutints was collecting water from a spring and the water is fed by gravity to the community.  There is only a community tap at the moment for the families to come and collect water.  It is wonderful to see how the communities are so grateful for the clean water source and give the glory to God for His provision.  Here are some pictures of Mutints, so pretty...

We leave in the morning for Cangaime.  We will be installing a solar pump and testing the existing distribution system.  Please pray for God's continue protection upon our group and that the installation of the system will be successful.  We will be in the community until Friday so I'll tell you about that next week... until then!