Who needs the internet, really? Truth be told, we all do, in one way or another. Here in Togo, we have set up our lives to be somewhat dependent on a reliable internet connection, and as I sit here and type, I realize that we may have made a mistake on the front end :)
So few things are reliable here. After our house was struck by lightning almost 2 weeks ago, we didn't expect to have our phone line repaired (and thus our internet) for quite awhile. Even after visiting the telephone company office and being assured that a technician was on his way, we knew better than to really think that it would happen. And so, 2 weeks later, our phone line is finally fixed...but the internet still is not working. I'm sitting at a local restaurant that happens to have wireless internet (a marvel in and of itself) and pondering my next move. We have set up our lives to be dependent on the internet; after making that bed, we are now lying in it :)
My mom said that we must be doing some good things over here because bad things keep happening to us, and maybe there is wisdom in that. We will continue to take it in stride, and we ask everyone back home to do the same with us. We may not get back to you in a timely fashion, but we will eventually, we promise. We love and value you all so very much!
The drilling is very cheap to do but is also very labor intensive. Free labor is easy to come by when you are offering people a clean water well right near their home! Here are some pictures that I took out in the village of Ewede that show a little bit of the process. Basically you have two people shoving the pipe with the drill bit on the end into the small hole (about 4 inches in diameter) while two or more people pull on the rope that is attached to the pipe to help pull it back out of the hole. By some process I don't really understand, the water, dirt and sand is sucked up through the pipe and spit out onto the ground beside the hole. 
I can tell you from personal experience that this is hard work! It seems to use muscle groups that I have apparently never used even once in my entire life. Of course, the Kabiye take it all in stride an work as tirelessly as I would if I were merely raking leaves or washing my car. Seriously, those guys are amazingly tough and hard working! I always tell them, "Malaki tumiye ne mo noo deke", which means, "I only do work with my head". They always laugh at me in a slightly dismissive way :)
Finally, this little guy wants to know, 
"Are YOU praying for the Kabiye and the Well Project?!?!?"
