June 3 2010 WE HAVE WATER

Tuesday June 1 was a holiday here in Kenya celebrating Kenya Self Government Day ~what a great day to start drilling the deep well for Ndandini.

We are thrilled to tell you that Ndandini has water ~lots and lots of it. Our drillers are telling us that they have never seen such a prolific well as what we have drilled at Ndandini today. The pump test will start tomorrow Friday and that should confirm what we have been seeing ~water non stop. The water looks good and is not salty and the water analysis will be completed next week in Nairobi.

I only wish that you could be here to see every smile´ hear every Thank You asante sana and receive every hearty hand shake that we have seen´ heard and received here at the drill site and walking the dirt roads ín the community ~ they are so grateful to you all.

The drilling has had its challenges ~starting with the difficult road in here/ its a very remote area. The water we hit was so exciting but so powerful that it was washing away the drilled hole ~we had to mix and pour concrete around the protective top borehole casing to try to stabilise the sides of the borehole and keep it from collapsing and destroying the borehole. Then we waited 36 hours for this to harden before we could continue drilling.

So today we continued drilling and stopped at 90 metres when we reentered solid rock after having had water in great supply for over 70 metres of drilling.

Tonight it is quiet ~we are sitting under starry African skies listening to the crickets with the occasional donkey and goat talking to each other. The drill stems have been removed´ the casings inserted and all is well in Ndandini.
Our work is just starting in earnest now ~tomorrow we are heading to Matuu town with significant village people to discuss an important drip irrigation project being championed by the Secondary school there.
The Ndandini shallow well has been succesfully drilled and the pump installed this morning. The concrete base and casings were done last night well after dark with headlights from the Landrover and many flashlights lighting the way.
No matter how hard I try I don't believe I can explain how hard everyone has worked to make this so successful this week. Joseph Daniel Bernard and Peter from Naivasha Drilling but it is to Duncan Kamau our Project Manager in Kenya who has weathered all the challenges along side with us.
Terry and Jan