Sierra Leone: Well of Life
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Next time you turn on the faucet...
Next time you run a bath...
Close your eyes and imagine that cool sound of running water. And then remember this story.
In Sierra Leone, West Africa, after weeks of work, the well at the King George VII Home for the Elderly is now eighty feet deep. Looking down the shaft you can barely see a man in the dark...
Don’t slip!
One man with a shovel moved all of the dirt for the new well at this seniors’ home. Ironic when the well digger himself is seventy years old! That is ancient in a society torn by war. This one man chopped through over ten feet of solid rock to provide water for the handicapped occupants of the home.
At lunch time in the hundred degree heat he rests under a tree....but he doesn’t eat. His meager income doesn’t allow it.
When asked about this he replies simply, “I am OK, really. I am doing fine. I can eat later tonight.”
When food and drink are provided, the unexpected happens. The old man shares it with others freely.
Sierra Leone offers hot and tiring work for teams, but moments of pure joy in the spoken words of those touched by God’s love.
“Ahh... I thank you for this, my friend. God bless you,” echoes the voice of our new friend as he descends back into the darkness. “I must get back to work.”
Working alongside local laborers, teams in Sierra Leone also dig wells in people’s hearts. And the people are discovering the water of life welling up in them to eternity.