It all started…
with a few voicemails our founder Jim received while he was in Africa. The voicemails were from a man named John, an entrepreneur from Pennsylvania told Jim he was passionate about building a drill rig and wanted to donate it to Water for Good! Not only was this rig being built on a beautiful truck, but it was also all-wheel-drive. As you can imagine, the ability to maneuver terrain is very important when navigating through Africa.
What’s a drill rig?
In its simplest form, we use a mobile rig to drill a borehole into the ground. This is the first of many steps to installing a water pump.
A couple of years later, the completed rig named Faithful and True was shipped over to the Central African Republic. Upon arrival, the drill rig became the responsibility of Marcellin and eventually the 4 other men at Marcellin African Drilling. Before driving the portable rig to a village, Marcellin will take his 4×4 truck to the site to ensure the rig will be able to make it. And yes, they do occasionally have to cross bodies of water. If they suspect the bridge isn’t strong enough to handle the weight, we will either reinforce the bridge or talk to the government about reinforcing the bridge. One time, Faithful and True actually fell through a bridge! Thankfully, the skilled team was able to retrieve the drilling rig before it fell completely into the water.
10 years later…
this rig is still operated by Marcellin and his drilling team. To show his deep appreciation for the man who donated the rig, he named his son JohnRepasky! As you probably know, drill rigs are vital to our clean water operation. Your support of Water for Good helps keep these rigs moving throughout the Central African Republic. And getting about 5 miles to the gallon, that is no cheap task!
