Missionaries: Rick & Carrie Maples (Kenya)

What We Do:
We, along with our children Meghan and Stephanie, work with the Samburu people group. We really have a burning desire to have the Gospel spread throughout not only Kurungu but the whole valley we live in.

We are learning the language and we have started several churches. We are learning that working with a people who move around a lot means that things always change!

How You Can Help:
Pray for the Samburu people because they need Jesus! Pray that the Lord will break their hearts. Pray that God will prepare them for the hearing of the Gospel and that they will respond in unbelievable ways.

Mission Field Update:  Well, the "Buy a meal for the Maples" plan is in full swing.  We are amazed at the extreme generosity we have received in just a few days.  We have quite a few gift cards from both restaurants and visa cards which we will use for either meals or gas.  Thank you so much to all who have participated so far.

On a far more important side of things, we have just received an update from the Middletons (our partners) about what is going on in Kurungu.  We  started a well project in hopes of finding water for some of the villages we are doing church in that are very far from any water source.  Below I have copied their email. There are some wonderful pictures too that we know you will enjoy seeing.

Thanks again,  Rick and Carrie

Well Project Story:  One of the things that has been a concern for both the Maples family and our family has been the lack of good clean water in the surrounding communities of Kurungu. So much of life for the Samburu and the surrounding tribes is tied into water sources that when rains are late or dont come at all tensions immediately escalate and can have ugly consequences.

About a year ago it came to our attention that one of the villages we have an outreach ministry to was particularly suffering from a lack of water.  The women were having to trek over 5 km's to the nearest source of water and then hand carry their jerry cans of water back the same distance to their homes.  Often a single trip was taking the entire day due to the over demand at the water source and the women were arriving home exhausted with very little to show for all their efforts.  Rick Maples began to work with the men in the community to help them develop a source of water for themselves.  They selected a site and the men began to dig a well by hand.  Rick intended to assist them by providing the cement to stabilize the walls once they dug far enough to find water.  Unfortunately the sandy soil they were digging in became unstable at about 20 feet down and so we stopped the project due to fears that it might collapse on them.

Our hope was that we could find another way to provide a well for them but we did not know how that would happen since proper boreholes are prohibitively expensive.  It turns out that some friends of ours have experimented with a new type of drilling process that is entirely done by hand, can still reach depths of over 100 feet and is less then 1/10 the cost of a standard borehole.  These past few weeks we have been in Nairobi researching and designing the specialized bits that are used in this process and this past week our friends followed us back to Kurungu to train us in the process.

One of the holy grails of development work is to get a community involved in a project so that they take ownership of it and we were concerned that the community would not be willing to put all the labor into the process that is required. We were pleasantly surprised when I brought up the issue with the elders. The community met together after our meeting and decided that not only would they provide all the labor we needed but that they would provide tea and lunch for our entire group every day we were together.

We brought all the materials to the site and set everything up and then we joined hands and prayed for God to help us work together, to learn the process and to find water.

The process itself is fascinating.  The drill bit stem is nothing more then 1   plastic pipe in 10 foot increments.  The bit itself is a hardened steel tip with a hole down the middle that has a one way valve on it to allow water to pass inside and carry debris from the cutting edge up to the earths surface and away from the hole.  The entire drill is centered in a large tripod which has a rope passing from the drill bit top up to a pulley and then down to about six people who provide the power to lift the bit and then drop it with force to aid in the cutting process.

It may not sound that fascinating written down like that but the local folks are fascinated and gather every day to watch the proceedings. Occasionally even the older mama's join in and help power the rope that drives the bit.

In this picture you can see the drill bit in action.  The blue pipe is being thrust down into the ground and water is spitting out the top carrying away the debris from 40 feet down the hole. It is incredibly hard work and all of us are exhausted from the process.

At the end of four days of drilling last week we put down casing believing that we had found water.  Everyone waited with great anticipation for the results of our tests the following morning.

Sadly the hole turned out to be dry and we all almost collapsed with disappointment.  I could hardly face the villagers as I tried to explain that we did not have any water but I was surprised again when they seemed to take it in stride and began suggesting other places they thought we should try.

So for the past few days we have again drilled down in a new location and have just passed 50 feet.  I hope to hit 60 feet tomorrow and then put down the casing in the afternoon.

Please join us in prayer that this well will have water in it.  It would be such a blessing to the community and I am not sure I could handle digging another one this week!

Contact:
Africa Inland Mission
Box 178
Pearl River, NY 10965
(800) 254-0010

Affiliated with:
Africa Inland Mission