Writing this under great duress. The duress is, my body is screaming for more sleep, but my mind knows it's time to rise, shine and drill two more boreholes before this day is over!
We actually drilled three holes yesterday. The first, at the Chief's compound, produced fountains of water, just as Aliyu had predicted. But the second, in Block 4, was a loss, only producing rock powder, 'tho Aliyu had seen clusters of rock fractures in his survey. After going down 60 metres with no indication of water, we pulled the pipe and went down the road another kilometer and tried again, this time producing rivers of water.
Today we'll do two more, then move on to Bobi reserve in Niger State, then to Jigawa. Aliyu wants to drill all twelve, as the rig and team he has are excellent but terribly expensive. Once the twelve boreholes are drilled, he'll let the rig and team go, then we'll go back and install all the pumps, pads and troughs. It's a good plan, economical both time and money wise.
Oh, I saw two of the primary schools yesterday, both in horrendous condition. But worse than the lack of windows, floors, desks, supplies was that one school has 800 students and only 3 teachers! 800 students in Nursery through Primary 6! The second has 300 kids and only 1 teacher.
Phyllis