San Andres Orthodox Christian Seminary in Guatemala Well Project

by James Macaronis

What is a well/why is it important

A well is a place where a person or community gets water from.
A well is the most important aspect of a community.
Communities without wells have to find other ways to get water that might not be enough or not be clean.
When there are droughts and little rainfall wells can provide water when other sources can’t.
Communities with wells will have a reliable source of clean water and those wells will save time from using other methods to collect water and making it safe to drink.

Guatemala’s groundwater is unequally distributed, and shallow hand dug wells are exposed to lead and arsenic do to unregulated industries. Many rural Guatemalan communities rely on charities to pay for and dig wells. Over 5.5 million (30% of the population.) people in Guatemala do not have access to clean water sources. Hundreds of wells have been drilled in Guatemala since 2005, so there is still hope for clean water in Guatemala.
Eastern Orthodoxy is a rapidly growing religion in Guatemala. We,as Orthodox in the U.S. are helping are brothers, and sisters in Guatemala by… helping dig wells in Guatemala, so they will be able to
have a fresh, clean, and reliable source of water.

The village that the seminary is in is called Talmiche. It is a small village on a mountain that is 7,000 feet high and overlooks the city of Huehuetenango. the Seminary houses approximately 150 catechists at a time on a three month rotating basis as well as the instructors and 10 seminarians. It is also the home of 18 cattle, 300 chickens and other animals which all need water.
The Seminary is the center for the entire Orthodox Church of Guatemala which has approximately 500,000 members, mostly from poorer rural areas of the country

The Current Status of the project is that the seminary initially tried drilling a well very near the actual buildings of the seminary but the drill bits broke on the rock. Another site for drill, still on the property but further down the mountain was chosen and the land in that area was cleared. The next step is to bring in the drill rig in order to drill with the diamond tips drills which should cut through the rock and eventually find the water below the surface. Once the well has been dug there will need to be pumping equipment and a whole intricate system of pipes to pump the water up and into the seminary facility.
A date for Completion is dependent on the success of this second drilling. How far down will they have to dig until they eventually reach water.

Through your prayers and donations. They need to raise @ $70,000 to complete the project.