ANITA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
FUNDED NOVEMBER 16, 2021
“Batey” is a local term for the sugarcane villages of the province of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Batay populations vary from 70 to 600 people, typically 100 to 200 people. These villages are often in the middle of nowhere, but if they can get electricity and water, a village can thrive as best as possible. The workers in sugarcane fields are subsistence workers, not paid enough to live. They don’t have basics like clean water, and our medical clinic doctor says that most of the health issues they treat are due to unclean water.
“Anita” is one such sugarcane village, with a population of around 100. They have municipal electricity but the nearest clean water is 2 km away. As a result, there are many sick, and lots of children with cholera, vomiting and skin rashes. The doctor is always taking medicine to treat waterborne diseases. Providing clean water for drinking, cooking, washing and gardening literally will bring life to the village.
This project will drill a well through more difficult soil than the well dug at “AB6” (Del Rey project 2019-018.) So it will be more costly for that reason. The village is also extremely remote, and there has been very high inflation in Dominican Republic. The cost of gas, drilling workers, and everything else has risen a lot in the last couple years.
Project details: Build concrete stanchion in shape of an “X” and place 700 gal tank on top of that. Drill the well. Install submersible pump to fill the tank, powered with municipal electricity. This must be a very large tank because electricity is often out, yet people still need to have water. Del Rey Ministries will fund all maintenance and repairs.
Del Rey Ministries is a non-profit organization for equipping pastors. They have a once monthly training session and annual (at least) visits to equip ministers across 50 or so villages. Where they encounter humanitarian problems, they want to help meet physical as well as spiritual needs met by their primary ministry.
At “Anita”, there is a small church. They do not have a trained pastor there, but Del Rey folks go there on a regular basis to help direct Gospel teaching. They are inviting that local pastor to be part of Del Rey’s monthly training and annual “Pastor Camps.” Del Rey pastors and staff will help to build, so funding needs are only for drilling and supplies.
Residents of Anita Village in Dominican Republic ask for a local source of clean water
UPDATE MARCH 17, 2022
Kim Costanza of Del Rey Ministries notes, “Here are the most recent pictures I have – I’ll try to get an more recent update for you, but the well is up and fully functional.”
Final Report May 2022
Kim Costanza notes…
Thanks for your patience on this. While I was not able to get to Batey Anita to actually see the well, I did get some pictures and eyewitness statements. I’ve attached the pictures that were given to me. Batey Anita is a village of about 40 families – around 100 people. They have not had water for more than 18 years – the only water available has been a contaminated stream ¼ mile away from the village. Because of this, the villagers suffered from the usual waterborne diseases. The new well provides clean, drinkable water for the whole village.
The economy in the DR is in trouble – inflation is at an all-time high. Material costs have tripled in the last 2 years. That is the reason the cost of this well went from $3,000 to $5,000. Thankfully, the well was completed at the end of January 2022. Attached are some pictures of the final project and some of the villagers as well as our team of Pastors. In the one video, you can see the flow of the water. In the other, the woman is explaining the conditions there, how long they have been without water, etc. She is the one in the village who will oversee the well.
Many thanks on behalf of the people in Batey Anita!
