Well, well, well...

So I’m back in Sevare. I didn’t last very long in Mandoli before I lost my mind and realized that I was going to be no help in getting the well work finished in the state I was in. Work has been abysmal. I am so frustrated with the entire project and feel like I am going to leave this village no better off then when I arrived. It is one hiccup after another that keeps us from getting to where we should have easily been by now with the project. The first major disappointment was that the valley well, which was projected at 35 meters, is now at 58, and the village has still not hit water. Rainy season will be starting in a few weeks, and I’m not sure what options we have left to see that they have water for the next dry season. Because the work was going slowly without any sign of imminent completion, we have left that site to concentrate on the garden wells. At this point the villagers are working on their own in the valley to hopefully finish the work before we get too much rain and the work becomes impossible. As far as the garden wells go, my objective is to complete just one of the two wells before my departure, because the unexpected depth of the valley well has exhausted our funding, and it is not feasible to expect two wells to come from the money that remains. Work on the garden well began at the start of this month, which is adequate time to complete the well before the rains begin. But because we have hit obstacles at every turn, it is doubtful whether we are even going to have this done before I leave. So, as you can see, I’m having a difficult time of it. I have called on my administration for support with limited success, so I am now in Sevare to seek out the local well community and plead for their help. I have stumbled upon a really nice man in the business who has many contacts and is setting up a meeting for me today with someone in the area who might be able to help. His encouragement has done wonders, and I hope that this will help to resolve, in part, a very difficult situation. To top it all off, I just found out the deputy director of Peace Corps in Washington D.C. is planning to visit my site next week. I don’t know if I have the strength to put on a brave face and act like this is all going to work itself out, because at this point I don’t know if it will.