For Hendri

 This past month in Kenya has been wonderfully exhausting. We have less than a week remaining before we board our flight for the long journey "home", and we've decided not to think that far ahead. Water: that's what is on our minds and consuming the majority* of our thoughts.

We've both been sick and sickness has hit our team pretty hard. Most of the sickness is from contaminated food and water, which motivates us even more to find water. We've got to find clean water and provide for the community here in Dago.

One thing I've learned about myself while being here is something that I had to painfully re-learn, and that is that writing is therapeutic for me, specifically this blog. So bear with me as I share yet another heartache with you.

My family has suffered a tragic loss, a loss that effects the world and runs deep in an ironic way with our quest to provide clean drinking water. My beloved cousin, the great whitewater explorer Hendri Coetzee, got in a fight with a crocodile and the blasted croc won. He was leading an expedition for Eddie Bauer where they were documenting the unexplored whitewater of Central and East Africa, focusing on the need for clean water. CNN has a report on it linked with the Eddie Bauer team blog if you'd like to read more. MSNBC also has a beautiful write up. He created a blog a couple months ago, and is a truly gifted and entertaining writer. I wish there was more to read, but please follow this link to read of his adventures.

The shock is still fresh and I find myself sitting with deep heartache and overwhelmed with emotion. The Lord is trying to teach me something, but I don't know if its getting through yet. I loved my cousin so much, and admired him even more. He always encouraged me to explore my curiosities and challenged me to get uncomfortable with the world in hopes of learning more. We last shared a hug in 2006, though our lives continued to cross paths just the same. Though South African, he lived mostly in Uganda on the Nile, where he worked as a river guide and on Mondays would take street kids out rafting. He was a passionate man, and completely devote to whatever adventure was unfolding before him. Next year we were supposed to meet up and change the world together, and he had wild ideas for Phil to film in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a dream for both of them. Hendri was in the DRC when he met the crocodile that took his life. I hope to go there one day and provide clean drinking water for the people he fell in love with.

Only a month ago I was completely ignorant to the crisis of water. I still know little about water, but I have experienced the devastation a lack of it can cause. If you come to Dago you will see power lines and a cell phone tower, but will have to drive several kilometers for clean drinking water, and even then you'll still probably get sick from consuming it. More people have cell phones here than clean water. This is Africa. We're about 80 feet down and have yet to find water, but we know it's there. We have until Tuesday. Pray for water.

We're going to finish this well for Hendri.

 

ever determined, 

Dalene