>>>December 2008

(For more news and pictures, don't forget to visit our website, you can just click on the "news" link in the header of this email)

Getting the well-drilling and well-repair teams ready for another season is no easy task. Trucks are stripped down to the frame, re-welded, painted, and put back together. Weeks and weeks of work have gone into this task, and although a lot has been accomplished here, there are still some major repairs that have not been finished. This month's newsletter is a collection of pictures of work from the past few weeks here at the Berberati garage. Pray for the garage team - it's been a busy and stressful month.

above top: Jim trying out the new plasma cutter
above bottom: scrap metal for future projects - Jim's got quite the collection!

Our drilling compressor and Atlas Copco drill rig are still not working properly. We have spent over a month working on them and the other drilling equipment but have not succeeded. We need to find a specialist to come out and look at it, and are now working through different options to make that happen. Your prayers will be much appreciated as we try and come up with solutions.

above top: trucks being stripped down to the frame - the roads here are EXTREMELY hard on the vehicles (as anyone who's visited can attest to) so bracing and re-welding the frames are often necessary

above bottom: The water tank for the drill rig was leaking like a sieve, so we built a new one from scratch. Job, our expert welder, did a great job! No leaks!

above top: The trucks are re-painted when needed, and Pattee is one of ICDI's best painters.

above bottom: Doug Murtoff rebuilding a cylinder

This video is produced by the Advent Conspiracy, who partners with Living Water International (LWI), ICDI's largest sponsor of wells in the C.A.R. Take a few minutes to watch it, it's well worth your time. (If the video isn't working for you, click here to view it on Youtube.

"People are dying from the lack of clean water. In fact, it's the leading cause of death in under resourced countries. 1.8 million people die every year from water born illnesses. That includes 3,900 children a day. The solution to this problem is directly beneath our feet. Drilling a fresh water well is a relatively inexpensive, yet permanent solution to this epidemic. $10 will give a child clean water for life. That's not an estimate. It's a fact. And here's another fact: Solving this water problem once and for all will cost about $10 billion. Not bad considering Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas last year. Our hope is that, by celebrating Christ in a new way at Christmas, the church can serve as the leading movement behind ending the water crisis once and for all."