Village “41”
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

FUNDED JANUARY 6, 2023

Village 41 is on the outskirts of Consuelo in the Dominican Republic, and comprises about 200 homes.

There is a well 1⁄4 mile away, but it is insufficient for the population and dirty. The water is not pure enough to drink or cook with – only to bathe and wash – and most of the villagers have to walk 1⁄4 mile to get water from this well.

People here lack the basic needs of water for cooking, washing and general living.  At this time, we do not have quantitative information regarding the current tangible impact of lack of clean water in village “41.” Our trip in January will include some medical professionals, and they may be able to add info.  The illnesses here are the typical waterborne nature.

Below are three pictures of typical households in the village.

We will drill the well on the site of a newly constructed church, and the well will be overseen by the church leadership.  We will utilize drillers that we have previously hired.  Repair and maintenance will be funded by Del Rey Ministries.

We hope that as people come to receive clean water on the church grounds that they will also be introduced to the “Living Water” that comes from Jesus (John 4). Our hope is to have our Pastor be the main contact there, and possibly put a water purification system in later. Having the well on the church property will greatly assist in the process!

Interim Update June 8, 2023

During the Del Rey team’s visit to “Village 41” in January, the team planned out the water well as part of a larger project to provide bathrooms.  The team plans to sequence the projects starting with the bathrooms and septic system.  This will ensure that the septic tank can be placed prior to drilling the water well so that the borehole doesn’t end up where the septic tank would need to be placed on the property.

In addition, the Del Rey team is concerned about the potential water quality of the well.  Water quality at other wells in the Dominican Republic has not been high enough to be potable.  Therefore, in parallel, the Del Rey team is also pursuing a filtration system that would bring up the water quality to potable levels.

As part of the January work, a church was planted on the property and the construction is now complete. This is a remote area which is fairly dangerous – lots of drug activity and theft. Therefore, Del Rey’s plan is to build a secure parsonage on the site and then once that is established, dig the well, so that it would be overseen by the pastor. Our construction has historically been done through another short-term mission organization called “Meeting God in Missions.” Unfortunately, because of severe inflation in the Dominican and a full schedule of other projects, they have not been able to build the parsonage. We believe it would be unwise to drill the well until we have some on-site supervision.

As an alternative, we are hoping to find a house close enough to the site that we can rent for Pastor Pepilo. If so, this will enable us to move forward with the well project. We are praying for God’s wisdom and direction on this.  Please be patient with us (Del Rey) while we find the best solution to secure the well before we begin drilling.

Thanks for your patience. We know that the well will be a huge blessing once it is completed, and we hope to have it completed by the end of 2023.  –Del Rey Ministries