May Happenings

This past April I made a return visit and met up with Luis in Bocachica. The pastor from the local church is living in our house, so we stayed with them.
 They were great hosts, and it was nice to be there with friends.
 Luis and I went and visited a number of houses to follow up on filters we installed three years ago. Many are giving good testimonies about the changes they have experienced with better water. More than one had the same story about how they can no longer buy juices in the street because they will be sick shortly after drinking them. Some also filter water for other family members that need clean water as well.

 A new devolvement that is happening with the filter in Colombia is there is another project in Bogota that has made the filter body out of plastic. We have joined with them in working towards providing the best system for household treatment of water. This month they finished the first filter out of plastic. We worked on doing this a couple of years ago, but there were no companies that could do it cost effectively for us.


A plastic filter body will give this system a more professional finished look. It does cost more. The estimated cost for the filter will double. The good thing about a plastic body is that we can take this into hard to reach areas that normally aren't accessible due to the weight of a concrete filter body. Previously, Luis made a filter out of a drain tile, but in the future, we could return to this remote area and install more filters using this plastic filter body.

Another project that we are embarking on with the local church in Bocachica is the building of a new Christian private school. There is a public school in the village now, but it is woefully below standards for providing the minimum in a good education. The church has already started this year with the preschool in the faith that God will provide for them to add a class each year until they have ll the grades for a complete education. Luis and I visited the school which for now is using two borrowed classrooms from another site. The full vision is to have a bi-lingual private Christian education available to people of the village. The parents of the students are paying monthly to have the kids taught, this is a big sacrifice for them because the normal mentality is that they are poor and receive things for free. However, the parents who want the change are willing to sacrifice monetarily in order to provide something important to the next generation. The need then is for the church, they had an architect design the plans according to the regulations of Colombia for the structure and layout of the school. The estimate for the school structure without the finished details is quoted at 125,000.00 dollars. This is a lot, but it also isn't a lot considering the lives it can change for the future. This year the goal is to build out two classrooms and the bathrooms so that the school can move into its own place.

Kids in uniform ready for school.                              

Teaching English classes with Luis                                           

Right now we are in the planning stages of bringing a team to Bocachica in January 2018. Please tell us if you would like to be part of this team.  Join us in praying as we get the details to come together.

Blessings from our family to yours,



The Ariels