The John Jackson Memorial Well is a story of determination and hard work. Located on the rocky escarpment of the Great Rift Valley , solid rock encountered at 10 feet created huge challenges to overcome. The use of dynamite in a proceedure called "parooting "was necessary to split the rock. next a man went down the hole to chisel out gravel sized pieces to be removed by bucket and rope

 It took 6 months of hard labor and 3 different well digging crews to reach the required water column to ensure a plentiful supply. Many workers gave up but well engineer Stephen Opunde told us he was taught in his training to" never give up on getting the water" he persisted despite  the high turn over of workers and  pneumonia of one due to the cold work below ground. Above are Stephen,  Susan our administrator and the nearby dispensary nurse watching progress.

 The heavy concrete rings are carefully lowered by hand into the hole . Well digging is a demanding and dangerous job. We thank them for their hard work which will benefit 500 in the community and also the nearby dispensary soon to be renovated.

We arrived in July and saw first hand the difficulty of the job. We watched the worker lower himself down the dark, cold hole, stand in the freezing water and work for hours then finally climb up hand over hand exhausted.