Jose from La Libertad, El Salvador
During our trip last week we met a humble Salvadorian named Jose. Jose, like many other Salvadorians, works very hard to provide for his family of five, a wife, a daughter and two boys.
We had the opportunity to work side by side with his family, Sus Hijos, and a team of 11 from the states in the construction of his new home. Short in stature and very strong, Jose traversed the unfinished walls littered with rebar like a ballerina all while carrying a 5 gallon bucket half filled with concrete. A feat that none of us gringos were quite ready to repeat.
Over the course of the days spent with the family, we enjoyed brief periods during setup, lunch and tear down to have conversations with Jose and his wife Angelica through the many translators we had on site. Opportunities to learn about one another, about the differences and similarities of raising a family in an environment very different than our own. On the very last day, we had a conversation with Jose, one that I will never forget. A sort of modern day David and Goliath story.
The community in which Jose and his family live is unique in that they have a public water utility that services them. This of course is only available to those who are on the main road (many are not) and only if the family can afford it. However, the water is not always available and the quality of the water changes causing many to relay on the river water that runs beside the community. The same river that nearly all wash themselves and their clothes in (a very common thing throughout ES) and is littered with trash. It was this delima that caused Angelica to ponder the idea of digging a well on their very small property.
Having a well right on the property is a very rare thing in this community. Only 3 out of perhaps 100 homes had one. Relatively speaking, a well is very expensive and out of reach for the majority of families costing between $1,000 to $2,000. Jose, a driven and very capable man but lacking in experience, began to ponder his wife's idea of a well. Lacking the financial resources, his only option would be to dig it himself.
As he began to talk with others in his community, he learned about the difficulty and many prior attempts that ended in failure. Many who lived lower and closer to the river had dug wells only to call it quits after hitting solid rock. Jose had a lot working against him - low probability, little money, a community of naysayers and absolutely no experience. Oh and did I mention that Jose is an unassuming man of faith?
With his strong small stature and fierce determination, Jose set out to dig the well himself facing odds that most would not attempt. When we asked how he knew where to dig the well, he simply said that God showed him the place. So with only a few hand tools, Jose began to dig the 3 foot wide hole right outside the front door of his old home. Things went pretty well in the early stage, until...
About two meters down, he ran into something really hard. As Jose described it, it was a very large stone that filled about 90% of the opening and sat on an inclined angle meaning that the stone was much larger than the 3 foot opening. After realizing that his attempts were impossible with the tools he had, he consulted those in his community. Most told him that he should give up and try in another location. Determined to move forward, he found one friend who had a chisel and hammer. Boasting that he could get through it in a single day, his friend climbed down in the hole wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. At the end of the third day, fragments from the rock had pierced his forearm and leg resulting in extensive bleeding, causing him to give up. After seeing this, Jose and his wife were very scared and he decided it was just too dangerous to continue. The next day, he thought better about it and decided to press on.
Next he consulted an explosives expert. The expert inspected the rock and decided that it was too difficult and dangerous and walked away from the job once again leaving Jose with little hope. As Jose explained, he did not give up because he was sure that God had told him that this was the spot that he was supposed to dig. At this point many of his neighbors believed that he was crazy for continuing. Jose continued to seek the opinions of others until one of his friends had a brilliant idea. If they could somehow get the rock really hot and then poor cold water on it, it might crack into pieces.
So using a special tool that Jose explained was a cross between a drill bit and a chisel, he and his friend started drilling 3 holes in the large stone. One would strike the chisel with a hammer while the other held the chisel and slowly rotated it blow after blow. Both had to wear two pair of pants and long sleeves to protect against the shards. Imagine all of this occurring 6 foot down, with two men crammed in a 3 foot hole for hours upon hours in the 80 to 90 degree temperatures.
Once the 3 holes were completed, they poured diesel fuel on old shirts, stuffed them in the holes and lit them on fire. When the fire went out and the stone was at its hottest, they poured cold water from the river in the hole. The fire and cold water process was repeated over the course of a few days. Following the crack in the stone, they then used traditional wedges and chisels to further separate the rock into 5 or 6 major sections.
With the stone now split, they began to excavate the major pieces. This was a challenge itself as even the pieces were huge (the stone Jose is sitting on in the picture was one of them). With the help of a few others, Jose rigged some scaffolding above the hole and bent the top of a palm tree over the hole, who's base was located about 15' away. With the leverage of the tree, the scaffolding and shear strength of the men, they somehow removed the pieces. Jose and his wife recall watching the boards used above the hole flex greatly and were worried that they would break, but they never did.
Once the giant stone was removed, Jose began the long process of digging out the hole by hand. He would fill a bucket and his wife would pull it up by a rope and dump it. Angelica, shared with us that she was very worried at this stage as she feared the ground would collapse, burying him alive. Digging and removing the debris continued until finally at 9 meters (about 30 feet) he finally struck water! It took 22 days to get to this point.
The final task was to line the hole with concrete pipes and place a hand pump at the top. After talking to a man who sold pipe, Jose realized that he could not afford new pipe at $600. Through conversation with the gentleman, they found out that they were from the same community (La Libertad). Knowing this, the man had a special place in his heart and wanted to help Jose and his family. They decided to make the pipes on-site at their home - a much less expensive option. (As a side note, Jose still had to take out a loan and gave his bike as the down payment - when asked what he did for fun later in the day, he indicated that his favorite pastime was bike riding as he admitted while laughing that he was no good at soccer - the favorite sport in ES). With special forms and concrete, the two made enough sections to span the 30+ foot depth. They lowered the sections into place using only ropes and set the hand cranked pump atop to finish it out.
Now if only you could have been there to hear Jose tell the story firsthand. I should mention that he never set out to tell us this story. We were very curious as we had not seen a well on any of the homes we had visited before. Through a simple question - "how deep is your well", the whole story unfolded over the course of an hour or so. As we got small answers to our questions, we eagerly asked the next and next excited to hear what he had to say.
To me, this is one of the most amazing stories of faith I've ever witnessed. We take for granted the smallest things in life - a cup of fresh water. The odds that Jose faced to successfully dig a well and provide a clean and stable source of water to not only his family but to those in his community, were very much against him. He had no experience, limited financial resources, poor odds of hitting water, was told by many that he was crazy, was told by an explosives expert that it was too difficult and ultimately he ran across a massive rock filling the entire hole. Except for a brief period of fear after seeing one gentleman bloodied, he held steadfast to his conviction, in knowing that the very place he was digging was exactly where God had told him to dig. Against all fear, all circumstances, he moved forward in faith, responding not to his physical senses, in what he was told and what he saw, but instead followed that small still voice from God, trusting fully in Him.
Oh, the beauty in having a relationship with the Lord so close that one might have a word, have a conviction, even be guided by the creator himself! Especially in the face of impossible odds and the world moving against us. Isn't it just like our God to use the smallest, the humblest, the meekest, to accomplish the great, the seemingly impossible! All this that He might receive all the glory. Remember Jose's story the next time the Lord lays something on your heart that seems impossible or when you face that giant obstacle that seems impenetrable.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
More pictures:
One of the 5 or 6 pieces of the large stone (center). This piece alone is more than any man could lift.
Jose standing proudly beside their well that has become a continuous blessing to his family and the neighboring community.
Psalms 1:3
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Jeremiah 17:8
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Great story Keith. What a gift.
ReplyDeleteMelanie