The CELEBRATION! (Tuesday evening)

This is what it's all about-- fresh water for children.

Every water project has a Celebration, where the community comes to sample the newly cleaned water, to give thanks to God and their partners for the blessing of healthy water, and to "advertise" the project to let community members know the water will be available.

Finished water system-- thanx,Dane for pic.

Think of the water filtration system as a business.  There are employees who operate and maintain the system who must be paid.  There are expenses such as electricity, new filters, regular maintenance, and replacement bottles.   In order to remain in operation, the water board sets a price for a 5 gal bottle of water and a deposit for bottle use.    All of this was decided ahead of the Celebration.  Pastor Aaron invited many people to attend (as I mentioned earlier) and was hoping for 70 people to show up.
I can't say exactly how many came to the celebration, but it was a large crowd.

At 6 o'clock parishoners gathered in the sanctuary for worship.  There were prayers, thanks from our group, thanks from the water board, some songs and Gary and I gave certificates to teachers and operators.  At that time we moved to the water building  (about half a block away) on the church grounds.  Chairs were set up in the yard and in the water building and many were standing.

 A ribbon cutting was the action that "opened" the building after which fresh clean healthy water was shared with everyone,

the system was explained, dates, times and prices of water were stated and questions were taken from the assembly.   The ladies of the church had been cooking all day and they served a rice and meat dish and potato salad to all those in attendance along with bottled sodas.  I've never seen such a large pan/pot as the rice was cooked in.  It looked like a vat.

They served about half of it-- not sure where the rest went.  People milled around and visited.   Sometime during the evening the doctor for the town ordered a large quantity of water for the clinic.  I think they will be able to sell/provide much more water that they can filter in a day.  The pump which was delivered with the system parts was smaller than requested.  It can only pump 5 gallons every 10 minutes-- 6 bottles an hour.  When they have a cushion of extra funds, they can purchase a larger pump to increase their output.   It was a major social event for the town.

We're leaving on the 10 o'clock Panga tomorrow morning, so we got back to the hotel to pack.