Walk Together Children, Don't You Get Weary

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While we at Shepherd of the Valley are preparing to Walk for Water -- raising awareness and funds to bring water to the village of Mahove, in our partner congregation of Tungamalenga, Tanzania -- our friends in Tanzania are continuing to fine tune the project plans, determining the best and most cost effective way to bring water to this village.

It has been three years since our partners first identified the need for water in the village of Mahove as a priority for our partnership. Since then, the people of the congregation and the parish have worked their way through the levels of Tanzanian government, through the village elders to the ward officials, and finally to the Iringa District government's Water Engineer.

Just two months ago, the plans to pipe water fifteen kilometers from a mountain spring to the village of Mahove [as was done by two nearby villages] were presented to Engineer Amos Byemerwa.

[Engineer Byemerwa has been a valued consultant on several other water projects financed by congregations of the Saint Paul Area Synod. His skills were utilized by St Paul Partners -- a water development nonprofit organization -- to install water systems at diocese secondary schools, including Image and Ipalamwa. He came highly recommended by our friends involved in St Paul Partners.]

Engineer Byemwera analyzed the project plans, identified points that required further study, and recommended that he and a team of technicians go out to Mahove to conduct a site survey in order to determine the feasibility of the project. The feasibility study will first determine whether the plan to pipe the water into the village is a sound plan; a secondary aim of the survey will be to drill boreholes to determine whether drilling wells would be a more cost effective solution.

So, on both sides of this partnership, we are busy doing what we each can do to move the project forward.

Pastor Naftal and the elders of the congregation at Mahove are accompanying Engineer Byemerwa and his team, determining the best course of action.

At Shepherd of the Valley, we are gathering our buckets, lacing up our walking shoes, asking friends and families to donate funds for the project.

We even have a choir rehearsing for worship next weekend:

Walk together, children
Don't you get weary
Walk together, children
Don't you get weary
Walk together, children
Don't you get weary
There's a great camp meeting in the promised land.

Gonna walk and never tire...
Walk and never tire....
Walk and never tire....
There's a great camp meeting in the promised land.

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