Ministerio Agua de Vida

In the beautiful mountains of north-central Nicaragua, 20 miles from the Honduras border, lies the community of El Volcan (The Volcano).  Serving this community is the Monte Sion (Mount Zion) Church lead by Pastor Rosalío Ruiz and his wife and 4 sons.  We were asked to assist this community with their water system - a spring fed system that was constructed almost 20 years ago.  Due to the extreme inaccessibility and  mountainous terrain of the area, drilled water wells are not an option.  The aging pipes had ruptured numerous times, leaving the church and surrounding houses without water.  We were asked to help find a solution to the problem and assist in the repair of the water system.

The view of the mountains is breathtaking - with jungle vegetation and birds all around

The Monte Sion Church serves the local community with services EVERY night!

Getting to El Volcan is not for the feint of heart - or the short of breath.  After driving up an incline that even put our trusty Toyota Hilux to the test we reached the end of the road.  Here we leave the truck and proceed on foot (or by burro if you are lucky enough to own one).  The trail is daunting - almost 2 miles long with an increase in elevation of about 600 feet.  We were severely winded every time we walked up - with the locals politely holding their laughter at the out of shape "flat-landers".  The folks of El Volcan are quite used to this climb and most do it DAILY - and then walk out to the paved road (another 4 miles) to catch the bus into the town of Somoto. Truly amazing and humbling. 

A picture really cannot show the steepness of the trail to El Volcan - it is almost STRAIGHT UP!!

The ladies from the entire community had to walk almost a mile - uphill - to the spring box to get their water.

When the pipes ruptured under the pressure of the water coming down the 300 foot grade from the spring box, the ladies of the community had to walk up to the spring box to get their water.  The spring box is a well constructed system built to protect the water which flows naturally from the cracks in the rocks.  Then the water is routed to a large concrete box from which the pipe runs down to 5 stations where the ladies can fill their water buckets.  We designed an upgrade to the system which called for a pressure reducing valve about half way down the mountain, and various other repairs that were mostly needed due to the age of the system.  The "water guys" at Amigos for Christ - Douglas and Tomas - installed the system while Ed made runs to town for materials and Linda ran a one person Vacation Bible School with the community children.

These pew dolls were made by Anne Fryga in South Carolina and these two little girls were quite pleased to be able to have them

  Linda had a whole group of kids coloring from the Good News Coloring Book with some crayons sent by Betsy Baker from Hilton Head, SC

We had quite a bit of difficulty repairing the piping system since one of the repairs was to be the shut-off valve at the top of the mountain - which would not close!  Our "plumber extraordinaire" Douglas fought against the odds and prevailed.  He is shown below repairing a pipe under about 80 pounds of pressure - pretty impressive what you can do when there are no other options.  We did prevail and at last the system was repaired and in good working order.  One of the ladies from the Water Committee was offering her  thanks and we got a picture of her trying out the newly repaired water station. 

Douglas is fighting the water pressure from almost 200 feet of elevation drop from the spring box to this location.

  The folks that live around this repaired water station are very pleased to not have to walk up the mountain to get their water now - including the Pastor and his flock at the Mount Zion Church

This is Tomas - the head of the Amigos for Christ water program - carrying a 100 lb bag of cement up the hill to the church

Here the local men came together to carry one of 2 concrete wash stations up to the community wash center - this beast weighs about 500 pounds!!!

One aspect of this project that really humbled us was the way that everyone came together to carry the building materials from where the road ended to various points up the mountain.  The Water Committee had asked for cement, blocks and wash stations to upgrade the system.  They agreed to do all the work if we would just buy the materials.  And what work it was!!! Just getting all the materials up the mountain was a huge undertaking.  But - everyone got involved.  Even the kids came to carry the 25 lb. concrete blocks.  The last load was two concrete wash stations that the ladies had requested.  They were washing clothes on wooden planks or flat rocks and they really needed a proper sink.  So we bought two and the guys jumped right on the task of carrying them up the mountain. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

It is a joy to work in a community that has such a high level of self initiative.  These are hardy "mountain folks" who work together, live together and worship together.  Praise be to God!!

Technical Details

Project date: Oct. 12 - 14, 2009

Location:   Latitude -  N 13° 24.764'     Longitude - W  086° 35.281'

Elevation of spring box: 3600 ft. above sea level

Elevation of pressure reduction valve:   3460 ft. above sea level (approx)

Elevation of lowest water station:  3297 ft. above sea level

Total Cost:  $1,480

Flow rate:    2 gallons per minute (varies with seasons)