Stories That Move

Jim Hocking | Water for Good

• DreamOn Studios • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Embark on a journey of hope and resilience with the remarkable Jim Hocking, founder of Water for Good, as he recounts his profound experiences in the Central African Republic (CAR). His dedication to bringing sustainable water solutions to communities in need is not just a tale of generosity, but one that ignites a flame of change in the heart of Africa.

From the nickname "Water Boy" to the drilling of over a thousand wells, we follow Jim's astounding path from his youthful adventures alongside local children to addressing the pressing challenges of the water crisis and its impact on child mortality. There's an authenticity to growing up in a place as remote and challenging as CAR, and in this episode, I weave tales from my own childhood that paint a striking picture of life in this landlocked African nation. Through anecdotes of delayed schooling and vibrant cultural experiences, I reveal the deep connections formed with the CAR people, the societal differences that both perplex and enrich us, and the linguistic tapestry that binds us. We share a laugh with Jim as we reminisce about the quirks of life in Africa versus America, underscoring the profound impact such formative years can have on one's perspective and life choices.

As we conclude, you'll hear the inspiring story of Water for Good's growth from an impassioned idea to an $8 million beacon of hope, providing daily clean water to nearly a million people. We discuss how this initiative has significantly raised life expectancy in the region and our continued commitment to reach even more communities. As Jim approaches retirement, the episode leaves you with a sense of optimism, celebrating the enduring spirit of those who strive to make a difference and the confidence that the next generation will carry this vital work forward. Join us for an unforgettable story of determination, hope, and the unwavering will to improve lives—one well at a time.


Jim Hocking 

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-hocking-388853/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/indianajim/⁠


Water For Good

Website: ⁠https://waterforgood.org/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/waterforgood/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/water_for_good/⁠

Speaker 1:

So water was a huge issue. Everybody basically drank river water. There was at least 25% of the kids that never reached the age of five. Sometimes kids didn't get named until they reached the age of five. Then they would know okay, they're gonna live, we can name them.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to today's episode of Stories that Move brought to you by Dream On Studios. I'm Matt Duel, executive producer and co-founder of Dream On Studios, and alongside me is always Mason Geiger, CEO and co-founder of Dream On Mason. Who do we have joining us today?

Speaker 3:

I am absolutely thrilled for our conversation today. Today's guest is someone I've had the privilege of getting to know personally over the last several years, and when we talk about stories that inspire, stories that challenge and stories that make a tangible difference in the world, Jim Hawking's journey embodies all of that and so much more.

Speaker 2:

And if you're somebody that knows Jim or has ever seen Jim, this guy is a real life. Indiana Jones, absolutely.

Speaker 3:

So I've had the unique pleasure of traveling with Jim to the Central African Republic over the last several years, witnessing firsthand the impact of his work with Water for Good and seeing the hope he instills in communities, and observing the tangible change that ripples across regions and generations, and it has been nothing short of inspiring.

Speaker 2:

Just to give a quick 10,000-foot view. Jim grew up in the Central African Republic and that early connection with CAR shaped a significant part of his life mission addressing the pressing water crisis in the region. But it's not just about providing water. It's about sustainable solutions, it's about empowerment. It's about transforming communities from within.

Speaker 3:

So, without further ado, please welcome Jim Hawking, founder of Water for Good to Stories that Move. Hey everyone, we're super excited here to be on another episode of Stories that Move. Got my co-host, matt Dool, welcome back. And so, yeah, we're excited to be sitting here with Mr Jim Hawking, aka Water Boy from Water for Good, thank you.

Speaker 1:

It's really good to be here, thank you.

Speaker 3:

So Jim name Water Boy. Where's that little nickname come from?

Speaker 1:

Well, when I was in high school I went out for all kinds of sports and didn't make any of them. I wasn't heavy enough for football, I wasn't tall enough for basketball. I finally tried baseball and when I was at baseball, you know they said I wasn't hitting hard enough. I couldn't hit hard enough, I couldn't throw far enough. So if I was playing in the outfield I could actually catch in the outfield, but I couldn't throw hard enough to get it back in field. They had to always have somebody cutting it off and throwing it on in.

Speaker 1:

So they finally let me be the manager, which actually wasn't a manager. It meant I hauled the water. I was hauling water buckets, so actually it was a whole bunch of water bottles in ice and I would haul these buckets out to the players when they were in break time and I'm going okay. So, manager, seemed like a little extravagant for a water boy.

Speaker 3:

I think that's such a great foreshadowing to what you're featured, you know, having in store. So I want to, as we kind of dive in, let's start back to kind of like your beginnings of so growing up Central African Republic. What would that look like?

Speaker 1:

Well, cr is the Central African Republic. It's right, smack dab in the center of Africa. If you draw a line from the top to the bottom of Africa and from side to side, the X is where Central African Republic is. It's a landlocked country. It's very difficult to work in there because everything has to be shipped in. They have almost nothing there. So all in this day and age, everything that we need for our work with water well drilling, with any maintenance on pumps and anything has to be shipped in. That means you're crossing country borders in order to be able to get it in. It's complicated. So I've lived in that country all my life. My dad took me over there when I was 18 months old. He didn't ask me anything about it, he just took me.

Speaker 2:

He didn't have a say in the matter. I didn't have any say in the matter at all.

Speaker 1:

We actually spent 18 months in France because I had a brother who was born there. Mom had all C sections. We have four boys and so after the C section my brother almost died because they gave him all his shots and he almost died so they had to stay extra. So I didn't get over there to Central Africa until I was three. But from 1957 till today I'm still going back to Africa and as a country I've grown up in, as a country I love, I love the people, I understand the people. I think really well, Now that's maybe a matter of opinion, but I have huge friendships there. So that's the country. That's when I went there and for the first 17 years of my life I lived there. And then I came home and had my junior and senior year in California. My dad's from California, my mom from Florida. They met up Bob Jones and decided to obviously get married and then dad took mom to Africa but he waited a little longer than I did.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, I'm excited to get into that story a little later. So growing up in the Central African Republic, I mean, what did life look like?

Speaker 1:

You have, especially before I went to school, and my mom didn't want me to send me to school right away because it's a boarding school. It's two days drive away and then I'm gone for a month, two months, and mom said okay, you're just, you're not going to go. So I started school a year late, so I'm a year older than most everybody in my class always have been. I really enjoyed living there and growing up there and playing with Africans. We had, we played games, we played soccer, set up a little goalpost. My dad built me a tree house when we were. We were there and my brothers and I and then we. My dad also planted fruit trees. He loved fruit trees, he loved growing things, so he planted fruit trees. So when the fruit would drop on the ground because it was rotten, then we picked it up and had fights and I would. We would get up in. The rotten grapefruit makes quite a mess.

Speaker 1:

So, my dad was on the ground throwing up up at us in the tree house and then we had. We had a tremendous time. So growing up, I really, really enjoyed my life there and we I'm still friends with some of the people who lived on the station that we did. There was one other couple, one other family, that lived there and I still communicate with the wife. The husband has passed away now but the wife is still living and I communicate with her. They have a church down in down south of here.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so at the boarding school are you there with mostly international students, or is it a mix of locals, just kind of everybody involved? Good question.

Speaker 1:

It's, it's all all missionary kids. Okay, so it was only a school for missionary kids and so, but there was all grades, so we had any everywhere from, let's see, kindergarten all the way through I think it was ninth grade. Then later we got another teacher who came and helped all the way through the 10th grade and then they left before they went through the 11th and 12th grade. So I actually went to Congo for my, for my 10th grade and then back to the States for 11th and 12th.

Speaker 3:

Okay, okay, so how many kids were in that class?

Speaker 1:

There. We had probably about 15 people in the whole school there was, only there were actually there was four, four in my class, Okay. So I had four people that we kind of, and sometimes one of them was on furlough, but the other three were there. So it was you know, we and be, we went all the way through school together.

Speaker 2:

Wow. So growing up there, spending significant portions of your life, do you find that you connect with African culture, american culture, a blend Like where do you feel like your heart just kind of naturally leans towards?

Speaker 1:

Definitely it leans toward Africa. Okay, and I compare things all the time with Africa. Well, we wouldn't do that in Africa. Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, we would. Yeah, you just crush cockroaches, Don't worry about them. You know, don't everybody worries about? If you have a cockroach in the house, just kill it, Don't don't worry about it Right. And you know, but people are going. You know you're not supposed to be here. Well, I said yeah okay, so I mean, it's just a different perspective that. I grew, I do enjoy America, I enjoy coffee, I enjoy really good coffee. So thank you, that that's a really good cup of coffee to say it, you're welcome.

Speaker 1:

So I do. I do enjoy Gonzo and I enjoy the technology Sure that we have here and they don't have there. Now we've we've been developing some of our technology for water for good, so now they're doing a whole lot more because we have a younger staff here and they're going Jim, that's old school. We don't use paper anymore. We use, and I go on. I've always used paper. What do you mean? Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So it's it's. It's different, but I probably lean towards that and my wife is trying to help me lean towards America a little bit more. I have 10 grandkids. She says, okay, you need to pay attention to the grandkids and find out what they like and, you know, learn that they like this food. They don't like that food they. Okay, we'll figure it out, yes.

Speaker 1:

So that's, that's what is going through my mind as we start talking about the future. After July of this this next year July 2024, I'm retiring and I told water for good. I don't want to hear from them, hear about them, hear anything for six months. Okay, after six months they can talk to me.

Speaker 1:

I'm not sure I'm going to do anything with them. It depends on what they really want me to do. But I said I'm open to you know talking about it. But I said six months, you know nothing. I just I need to. I need to refocus and I know I'm not good at that. I'm focused on Africa and I need to refocus on the family and USA. Awesome, and it's it's hard. I bet.

Speaker 1:

It's not going to be easy, because I've been in Africa for 60 years. Wow, wow, I'm turning 70 next year and I think it's time to quit. Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'll say it has been super cool and getting to travel with you and experience firsthand like the way that you're able to communicate and just like the energy that you have whenever you're in Africa, like it definitely feels like home for you whenever you're there. But the relationships that you have built and getting to witness that is just so cool, so I will definitely cherish that.

Speaker 1:

You were actually with me when we met with the president once too.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yep, that was an experience.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, now I've shook hands with every president in the country but one. Wow, so one was only president for nine months. He was a rebel president and he didn't last long and I never got to shake his hand. Probably a good thing, yeah, yeah, but every other president I've shook hands with so far Amazing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So with that I wanna dive into a little bit more like your story and kind of that transition. But just yeah, I mean what is like the government look like in Central African Republic, the different people groups, the villages, the language, like just kind of give our listeners a little bit of a perspective on what that looks like.

Speaker 1:

The language. It's interesting, it's a tonal language. It's Sango. It's a tonal language. It's a tonal language. Yeah, you got that right. Absolutely I said, all you need to do is translate what I'm saying, and then I can continue on.

Speaker 2:

I was trying to pull up Google translate real quick, didn't get to it.

Speaker 1:

So I grew up, of course, learning the language and speaking the language, and spoke it better than my parents for a while, and they had a hard time. So I knew some French, of course, english, and then I started learning Sango. Well then I did not connect in my mind that they were two different languages. So I would start talking to my mom, who didn't know French really well. My dad knew French better than she did. She didn't understand any Sango, so she would understand one third of what I said, because I would mix all three languages be ye banana.

Speaker 1:

Wow. And she said okay, what about a banana? What do you want? Yeah, and sometimes she could kind of say okay, you must want a banana. But it was really crazy for a while and slowly she started learning the language. She went to language school, so did my wife, and then they understood a lot more of what I was going through. But growing up there, the government has an official language, which is French Now, I'd say African French, but French and then there's the trade language, which is Sango, which is spoken across the country. Now there's also tribal languages in each of the tribal groups and the Africans learn these things automatically. I mean, it's incredible. But my good friends, they say look, jim, you've been in Yaluke for this amount of time. You need to speak Bahia. And I said, look, americans, don't learn languages that fast. You don't learn software that fast. I can run my phone a whole lot better than you can, but you can learn languages.

Speaker 1:

So, it's different gifts. And they said Jim, you could do this and I go. No, three languages is plenty. I'm done.

Speaker 3:

So, how many of the like like does he speak other tribal languages as well, or is it pretty much like you know your tribal language and then Sango is just kind of the?

Speaker 1:

Very good question. So what happens is they marry a lot of times outside their language group. So, like Marcelin, he grew up with my son. He speaks Bahia, His wife is from Boire. They speak Banu. So they got married. They speak, you know, in Sango, but they learned each other's language. Then, when their kids are born, they send the kids to the parents her parents for six months to a year and then they live with their his parents for six months to a year, so they learn both languages.

Speaker 2:

Oh, wow, okay.

Speaker 1:

And they also learn Sango, of course. Yes. And then in school, when they start school, it's taught in French. So they're you know kids, when they get to school age, they're already in four languages.

Speaker 4:

Unbelievable, Like I say they just learn languages like we learn software.

Speaker 1:

And I said you just gotta understand that are. My learning capacities in languages is not very great. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I have a brother who speaks some Spanish and he has a Spanish speaking there and I said, look, you know, I got Sango French in English period and you know if you want me to speak, cause he asked me to speak at the Spanish service. I said I'm gonna have to be translated. He goes Jim, you could figure out a few words. I said no, just forget it.

Speaker 2:

That hard drive is full. It's full, yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I like that, I like that that capacity.

Speaker 3:

That's awesome. And so then, like infrastructure wise, just like what? What does that look like? I mean, in these villages do they have power? Is there I? Mean obviously water is a huge issue. Sanitation what's that look like?

Speaker 1:

80% of the population has some form of latrine. Now, of those, 70% are out of order, basically.

Speaker 3:

So there's a latrine that's like a hand pump.

Speaker 2:

No, latrine is a potty spot, gotcha Some kind of toilet, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I mean they, they go, and so you know when you're driving down the road in Africa. What did we do? You know, we just stop alongside the road, the girls go on one side and the guys go on the other side, and you find a tree. There are no rest stops.

Speaker 1:

There are no toilets. When you get into a town there's a toilet, but it's a latrine. It's, you know, there's oftentimes there's no toilet paper. You carry your toilet paper in the latrine with you because there probably won't be any there. So that's what they have there and here in the States, you know, we just don't don't get that.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

But in Africa, if they have anything that resembles that, they count it as a latrine. Now, they don't have water either, so that compounds the issue. They don't have water to wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. They don't have paper. They use newspapers to wipe themselves. I mean, okay, yeah, I don't. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I mean, it's just a whole different mindset in what David was saying was you know, these are one of the problems trying to help a community raise to the level of normal society in all African countries. You know, car is just at the bottom of the pile. We are either the last or next to last. That we fight over Chad and us fight over bottom place. I don't think that's the right thing to do, but that's what we do, wow. So and that's development index, everything.

Speaker 1:

We are on the bottom. So the countries around us are a little bit better, but not great. You have to go all the way to, you know, into the Northern countries to have a little bit better sanitation, hygiene or anything else. In the government aspect of it because you asked about that as well there have been, I think now probably at least six rebellions, and what usually happens is a military leader is in the government. Well, then he decides he wants to take over. So there's a coup d'etat, a government overthrow the other government. The man is either killed or he's, you know, sent out of the country and this man takes over. But it's a military dictatorship, and then they start to try and work it into an actual government. And what our current president has said hey, all our constitutions have been built on military dictatorships. We need to actually build a constitution that's built on a elected government with an elected government.

Speaker 1:

So that's what he just did. A referendum, referendum just ended. They agreed to that, but now he can run for another office. That's what he wanted. He wanted to run for another term, because usually they can only run for two terms. Now he can run for a third term, which and he's getting older he's younger than I am, but not a lot so he's gonna run, I'm sure, for another term. That will actually bring more continuity to the government than they've had in a long time. So realize this every time there was either a government overthrow to actually take over or there was, you know, the election. He didn't win the election, so then somebody else would run, and this has gone on since the inception, which is 1960.

Speaker 2:

So, with a constant kind of change of leadership and obviously different infrastructure right Lacking of infrastructure when you're talking about plumbing running water how does that affect day-to-day life there for people, for the villagers I mean? It just feels like. I mean in my mind I go to like just the grappling to grab onto something, but it's, there's just constant upheaval and change, and it's what it sounds like to me Very it's.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're right, you're right, and let's put this in perspective these people this whole country is actually subsistent farmers, so they grow what they eat. If they don't grow it, they don't eat it. There isn't anything else except hunting. They can find some stuff, but now there's less and less animals around, so they have to actually fish or they have to grow what they eat. There are a couple of big rivers, so they still do a good bit of fishing, but so, and then what they do is they grow a little bit extra so that way they can sell some of their product. And then they live, you know, they sell that, and then they have money to buy things that they may need that you can't actually grow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so okay. So I wanna transition a little. So, growing up NCAR, coming back state, it's California. Finishing up school, what was that next step in your journey? What did that look like?

Speaker 1:

I came. So then I, when I graduated from high school, I came to Winnell Lake and went to Grace College, and I met my wife there.

Speaker 2:

So talk to us about getting married and then moving halfway across the world.

Speaker 3:

Because it's she had been to Africa before I was the first experience She'd never been.

Speaker 1:

She'd been to, I think, mexico before Okay. But never been. You know beyond that. Never been to Africa, never been overseas.

Speaker 3:

She was newly married, just graduated, and you're gonna take her.

Speaker 1:

And I took her and she was excited.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so okay, so you guys over in CAR family started. You're in Yaluke. What, yeah? What point is that water need really start to come in? You start to realize that, through the relationships and partnerships that you're making, that it's like there's something bigger that I need to be doing.

Speaker 1:

There's a number of stories to that, but I will tell one of them. I lived at Yaluke. There was no well there. We had no well. We had a spring a kilometer away and they had a little pump that would pump it up and I had a little gas motor on it. So you had to go down, put the gas in and then it would pump and fill the water tower until it ran out of gas. And then you'd have to go back down and fill it up if you needed more water. If not, you could wait till the next day. That was our water source and the water tower was not very clean. I actually cleaned it out a number of times, but it's a cement tower so it has mold in it. I think it's just not so. I realized right away the importance of water when water for good became a possibility. But then the Africans down in the village, they were all collecting water.

Speaker 1:

There were a few hand pumps. A few organizations who had built hand pumps put vernier hand pumps. I would say 50% of them were broken all the time. So because there was nobody that really repaired them on a regular basis. And if a hand pump, if it's not repaired every six months it's gonna be broken, that's just. It's a manual pump, manual things. Moving parts wear out, bearings wear out. So a limited supply and limited supply, and then you couldn't get the parts a lot of the time. So the capital city had parts sometimes, but not there was nobody that supplied parts on a regular basis. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So water was a huge issue. Everybody basically drank river water and so kids I don't know how many kids that I saw sick, bloated, somex, they had worms and they would. Reaching the age of five was kind of a milestone. If a kid was able to reach the age of five, he would probably make it Most kids. So probably there was at least 25% of the kids that never reached the age of five. Wow. So I mean, it was just so kids. Sometimes kids didn't get named until they reached the age of five. Then they would know okay, they're gonna live, we can name them.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my goodness Wow.

Speaker 1:

So it's just a whole another mentality. Okay, You're not even gonna name your kid until it's five. Right, but they had a reason for it. They said if we name them then it's gonna be a memory sticking in our head and until then it'll be okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So with your mechanical background, are you kind of looking at these solutions, these pumps, and thinking there's gotta be something better? I mean, what was your kind of next steps in the journey?

Speaker 1:

I really didn't think about it too much. I realized it was a problem, I realized we had set up hospitals and dispensaries to help take care of the problem and I just figured that was what we could do. It was when. So I hunted with this man that actually gave me the organization and he talked to me a bunch of times about his organization and what he'd done and how he'd done it. Because we would go hunting every year in June and go hunting for two weeks and after a while I was taking my son, my oldest son, and then my other two sons all my sons have been hunting with me in Africa.

Speaker 1:

So we but that built the relationship and he had seen the abilities of what I did there at Yaluke because he lived in Beberati. So he'd always drive through Yaluke and oftentimes he spent the night there, because it was about a day's drive from Beberati to there and then another day to the capital city. So Roland and he started a maintenance program. I ended up having to pay him back for that money invested because he was in the hole. So his company was in the hole for the maintenance program. But he gave me the drilling company because he wanted me to do it because he tried to sell it to me before. So I'll go back to your question, because I haven't really seen any solutions or how to do a solution. I just figured. This is the way life was and everybody had to figure it out. I did help sometimes. In fact we went down to the pygmies before I started Water for Good and we hand dug a well 100 feet deep.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

Now it is. How do you hand dig a?

Speaker 2:

well, 100 feet deep.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what you do is we made culverts, probably two foot culverts and three foot across, and we put one down and then we would dig underneath it until it went down and then put another one on top and then dig underneath until it went down, and keep going 100 feet.

Speaker 3:

Which, again like you're making these culverts. This isn't like you're going to the store and you're buying culverts. Oh no, we had to make the culverts.

Speaker 1:

We had the, you know and sand was hard to get. So they had to haul the sand up from the spring, which was an hour and a half walk away, haul it up for the spring, and then we had to bring cement out from, you know, the town, which was an hour, at least an hour maybe, excuse me at least a day's drive, so a day's drive away. So every time we needed more cement we had to go all the way back into town and then do the cement. Gravel was almost impossible to find, so we had to work on that too. We had to haul that out to the Muali, so, but we finally got it built, but not even damp 100 feet deep and it wasn't even damp, and about 60 feet. When you're down this kind of hole we would let a lamp down each morning to make sure there's oxygen down there. Okay.

Speaker 1:

The lamp would go out. Wow. So I had to go back to Yellow Cave and get a pump, an air compressor. Bring it here gas air compressors so I could start it up and pump water. And I pumped air down the hole every morning so that they could actually go down and work, because there wasn't any air down there.

Speaker 3:

Which I mean reading this story in your book and you're talking about like there were tying ropes around these guys' waist that are down there, so if they pass out they could pull them out of the hole, pull them back up Like if we see them fall down we go okay, pull them up.

Speaker 1:

Pull them up Like. Because there's holes in the side of the culvert, so they could actually kind of work their way up if they're still awake. Come on, jesse.

Speaker 2:

If they pass out.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it's gonna be hard.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So we would make them tie a rope around them to let them they could go down but then coming back up. If something happened, we could pull them back out, but it's just like crazy.

Speaker 3:

This is the extent that you guys so like. How long is this process for you guys to dig 150 feet?

Speaker 1:

Oh, it probably took, I would say, a month at least. Wow, a month of digging and we had some guys who dig wells in Yaluke, where I was from. We had them come down and kind of help us figure it out and they I mean they were good, they knew what they were doing. You know, we just had to build culverts. Usually they don't build culverts, wow and they said okay, this is, if you're gonna go this deep, this is what you're gonna have to do.

Speaker 2:

Prior to you coming here, I used to be really impressed with digging two feet for a fence post.

Speaker 4:

So With your post all day, with my post all day, yeah, right, exactly.

Speaker 1:

With the tape measure in Two feet. Yes, I did it.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing. Okay, so you get down 100 feet and it's not even damp.

Speaker 1:

Not even damp no water. So what do you do with it? That is the best latrine you ever had.

Speaker 3:

It's the deepest latrine in all of CAR.

Speaker 1:

That's the deepest latrine in all of CAR. The only problem was I put a nice hold on in a nice place you know a nice fence around it and stuff, and the pygmies were scared to death to stand on that.

Speaker 2:

So you don't go into the 100 foot latrine business after this. That was kind of one and done. So what was the next step in the water journey? Did you go then to drilling?

Speaker 1:

Well then. So this was still when I was a missionary, okay. So then I realized you know we needed to have, and I actually went and talked to Roland about drilling a well and he goes that's too hard to get down there, you know, that's terrible. You know that road is terrible. It's a forest. There's trees down all the time it's. You know that's impossible. Who's Roland? Real quick, Roland, excuse me. Yes.

Speaker 1:

Roland is the former owner of the drilling company. So when he ran a private drilling company so let me jump ahead a little bit so when I started drilling water wells two things he told me I had to start a nonprofit because the government was taxing him out of the business. So the government was actually taxing him about 40% of his income and he said you know you're not gonna be able to make it, you have to start a nonprofit. Okay.

Speaker 1:

So I'm talking to this guy and I have my friend with me and you know, I'm just looking over at him and I'm going okay, I have never started a nonprofit, I have never drilled a water well, and you want me to do both of these right now? I don't think so. So when? So then we were going down to the Pygmies, so I'm jumping ahead a little bit. That's great. We're going down to the Pygmies, and so we had already seen the Fulani people, who are the cattle herders. They're tall, thin people but they're incredible cattle herders. But they, because they have cattle, the villages won't let them stay near the village.

Speaker 1:

They make them move away from the village and then they don't have water. So then they have to walk back to the village or go find a river to get water. So they wanted a water. Well, so this is the second time now we're talking to Roland and Kim is looking at me and going okay, so we just go on down.

Speaker 1:

Well, going down to the Pygmies, sure enough there was a tree down, so we cut it out of the I mean, it was probably three foot across. We cut it out of the way, moved it out of the way, cut a big chunk out, drove around the corner there was another tree down Cut it out of the way, drove around the corner. There's another tree down. I said, okay, we're done, we've done it. I said we're going to walk. Now it's 23 miles Back to the pygmy village. Kim says it's a ways. I said yeah, but you know we need to go. We needed. The Mission wanted us to see how they were doing. So we get all the way back to our 23 my six and a half hours, that was pretty good time 23 miles. So we were moving because we were following two pygmies and they move. I mean there, they're short little guys but they move okay so we were following them back there.

Speaker 1:

And we get all the way back there, and when we get back there, it's probably about one in the morning, because it was already almost evening when we got there, and One in the morning and everybody in that village wakes up, starts a fire, big-bond fire. We're dancing all around the fire, we're just having a blast, having a great time. And then they come over to me and they said Jim, we didn't know you were coming, we had no idea and we don't have any water. So usually they would save some water from the rains and then we would have some water to wash our hands, you know just. And they said we were gonna have to go down to our spring.

Speaker 1:

And so we walked down to the spring, an hour and a half down to the spring. We get down there and my friend looks at me and he says Jim, I'm not even gonna wash my hands in that water, much less drink anything. I Said, well, we don't have much water. He goes yeah, but it's gonna do. And Then he turns to me and he says Jim, if you had that drill rig, you could fix this. Wow.

Speaker 1:

I Said that's not fair. I Said if you had the drill rig you could do it. He goes no, you know, you're the guy that could do this. I said he said you, you are a mechanic at heart, you could figure it out. So we walk back up the hill and then we walk back to the truck. All the way back to the truck I continue to say, okay, if we're gonna do this, this is the first step. If they're gonna do this, this is the second step. This is what we got to do. And my friend was saying okay, yeah, let's, let's figure this out, I'll help you. I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll help you. I think it's the right thing to do.

Speaker 1:

So I called roll on when I got back to the mission station, said okay, I'll do it. He says okay, well, you get back to America. When you get, when you get the 501c3 started, let me know and I'll fly you to Sweden. So we flew. He was from Sweden. So we flew to Sweden, sweden, faye and I both we flew there. We drilled one well there. Then I came back home and then we went to Central Africa and we drilled one well there and then he said okay, you're good. See you later.

Speaker 3:

He got to figure it out, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I said what I mean? We, we've drilled two wells. He goes Jim, you'll figure it out. I go on, I don't get this. You know that's. This is not a training, this is just an introduction. Yeah, and he said well, you have some Central Africans that I've I've trained, so you hire them and they'll work for them. I go on, I borrowed five thousand dollars from my dad. I don't have much money. What am I gonna do this? He goes well, when you need to get contracts, my first contract was in 2005. About June of 2005, usa ID had paid living water to drill 15 wells.

Speaker 1:

Okay that was my first gun. No money until then. So from, yeah, from March all the way till Till June, july, that was the first money I had and then I could. So I was, I was sweating bullets Because I was still paying these guys. We didn't have any work to do, but I was paying them because, you know, I had to keep them on. Yeah, and so we, we got that and they went right to work and it was. It was amazing Because they actually finished all 15 wells in three months.

Speaker 1:

Wow and I called living water and said, okay, we're done. And they go you've. Because I had to build a latrine at each one and I had to do the cement slab and everything. He, I said they said you got all this done. I said, yeah, I've got it all done. Here's the names of the villages, here's pictures. I sent them all all that and they gone All right.

Speaker 1:

So they called USA ID and the guy says that's impossible. He lives in the middle, I mean the middle of Africa. You know how could he possibly have gotten it all that done? He had to get everything shipped in. They said he's already got it done. Here's the pictures. And they said, okay, we're gonna send somebody out there. So they sent somebody out and take a look and we went to, I think, eight of the sites. He went, we drove him out, talked to talk to the people. He realized then, okay, I knew what I was doing, I was speaking different language. And he goes you know what language is that angle? Well, that's song. Oh, it's the. It's the language, the trade language here. And he goes okay, and I mean he, he was.

Speaker 1:

It took us like Three or four days to get it. Well, the last one we were seeing and we hadn't seen them all, but the last one. He said okay, this you know, you've got him done, I know. So we stopped there, we. I was talking to him, showing him the latrine and everything, and these ladies were coming down the hill. They were upset I mean you could see it on their faces, I. There was probably 12, 15 ladies coming down the hill. And he looks up and he sees he says Jim, you have some visitors and I don't think they're very happy. I Said, okay, we'll just sit down. So I just sat down on the edge of the cement slab where the pump was and these ladies came up and I said hey, ladies, how you doing? Do you like this? Well, they're going.

Speaker 1:

We don't like it. I said oh okay, what's wrong? They said we don't like the taste. It tastes terrible. The river water down you know another another half a mile, tastes good, but this water doesn't taste good. I said, well, it's got iron in it. There's, you know, that's it. There's nothing I can do about that. It has iron in it and so it's going to. It's going to taste funny. They said, well, we don't like it, we don't care if you take the pump, we're done.

Speaker 1:

I said okay, Do any of you plan on getting pregnant again? What kind of question is that for a white guy to ask?

Speaker 2:

an African lady. Yeah, I go wait.

Speaker 1:

Well, excuse me, but you know, I just you know. I wondered if, if you, you're still planning on having kids. Well, yeah, yeah, we are. Well, what does the doctor say when you're going to going to have a kid? What does he ask you? What kind of pills and vitamins, as you ask. Well, iron, oh Iron, drink water. Oh, oh, really. Iron in the water, drink the water. They went, I mean, they turned around. They were laughing and joking, slapping each other on the back, just having a great time, and this guy turns to me and he goes. What in the world did you tell those ladies?

Speaker 2:

Because it was all insolent.

Speaker 1:

He goes. I can't believe the change. They came down here furious with you and they left slapping each other on the back having a great time. I said I told him just to drink the water. Think away, you had to sell him something else. I Said no, I told him to drink the water because there's iron in the water. And then he goes. Well, why would, why would that make a difference? I said, well, because they're still, you know, of the age of childbearing and they all will have kids and they need iron in their system. So they're they'll. They just need to drink water. He goes. I'm not sure if that works, but if they're happy, we're happy.

Speaker 3:

Sorry no, it's incredible. I love there's one story I want to go back and hit. Just be like the theme in your book, that Just God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. And it's like your. Your story is just riddled With all of these moments of just like taking those faithful steps forward and like being in uncomfortable Situations and just continuing to like, be faithful and just continue moving forward and even just the.

Speaker 3:

So I'd love for you to share the story of Even coming up with the money to be able to start the organization of like you didn't have, like didn't have anything to start with, and you're you're scrapping and pulling and just there's a really cool story in that I'd love for you to share.

Speaker 1:

Are you talking about when my I Borrowed money from my father?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so you're, you're pulling, so I'm, so I yeah.

Speaker 1:

I didn't have money. We had. My wife and I had $5,000 in savings. So I had talked to Faye and she said well, I'm not going back, but if you want to spend the money, that's fine. So I borrowed that and then I Told my dad what I was doing and I said can you, can you match my five? He goes okay, I can do that. When can you pay it back? I said I don't know, you know.

Speaker 1:

I don't have any future right now in this, but I I hope to be able to Pay you back in a year, maybe two years, and he goes okay.

Speaker 1:

That's fine. So I had the money, so I put all that in the bank and Then I took some of it out with me and paid the workers the first time. Second time I went out I took more, more out and paid them again, and that was when we were starting the work. And so then we could, and I would go out for two or three months each time and after a while my wife would come out and and spend a couple weeks with me, because then my son was working in France. She would go back and stay in France for a while and then come, go on, go on home. So Because you know, three months was a long time for me, there was I mean, I know there's guys that you know they're in the military and they're gone for a couple years and stuff, but that's not for me. I said I'll do, I'll do three months if I have to honey, but if you come out in the middle, that would really be nice. I just like to See your face.

Speaker 3:

She goes yeah all right so you start with this like initial 15 wells, you've got twenty thousand dollars of seed money. That's how it starts. Now let's fast forward to today. Water for good what? What's the impact size scale of what you guys are doing today?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think we're an eight million dollar organization and we we just finished. I think we've now drilled a hundred. Water for good itself has drilled a thousand fifteen wells. Oh, and then we've got other organizations that have drilled for us as well. So now we're hiring other organizations. When it's a little further out, we just get them to go do it and they need the business and we need them to help us with the long term of this. So we're trying to keep them in the country and rather than let them leave their for-profit businesses they're doing an Indian and a Lebanese to companies that are doing good work. They're having a few more dry holes than we normally have, but that's okay, they're learning from that. So, but we've drilled, you know, a thousand fifteen wells. We take care of 2,000 wells, so nearly a million people drink our water every day. Wow, and we yeah, we know. So. The life expectancy when I started water for good was 45 years of age. Today it's 54. Wow, so we think it's because of water, sure? Just?

Speaker 1:

yeah my opinion right, but it's really hard to prove. But we really think more kids are living longer, adults are living longer because they're healthier. So we have we have a lot of facts that's kind of lead to that. But there's no proof because record keeping is really hard in. Car, sure Wow.

Speaker 3:

Incredible. Yeah, that's I mean how.

Speaker 1:

I never dreamed.

Speaker 3:

I was gonna say I'm like just to like, imagine when you started those like I mean to think back to you hand digging this 100 foot dry. Well, future latrine to a million people drinking clean water every day, because of those faithful stuff.

Speaker 1:

It's really unbelievable, and you know I'm retiring, but the younger staff is taking this to places that I have never dreamed possible. And now organizations are coming to us and saying, okay, how did you do this? You know, what you're doing is really amazing. We want to learn from you, and so we we've been able to go to some conferences that have really been. David the army was just at a conference where they they were just amazed at the progress that we have made with the government, with the central government and local governments being able to help them establish what they're doing long term for the future of the country.

Speaker 2:

So what is the? I mean a million people again just unbelievable, but I'm guessing there's still a great need out there. What does that look like?

Speaker 1:

We probably only need about 2000 more wells, so it's a long ways off but, we're working in region yeah, right. That's a third that you've already got like that's pretty incredible.

Speaker 1:

So region two is what we're working on now. We'll finish that in 2026. I think We'll finish that that. That'll take it from what was about 15% to 85% of access to clean water. There's places we cannot get to, sure there's no, no road, no bridges, no way that we can get to them. But we will take it to 85% of the population.

Speaker 1:

In region two, which is huge, then will be, you know well, over 20, 30% of the country. So there is, let's see, 5.5 million people in the country. We have about a million. So but that'll take us up over over that to nearly 30%. So, but then, of course, then we start moving across the country. So we're in the western part of the country, then we'll move east.

Speaker 1:

There's less population, from the central part of the country to the east, but all across. You know, here, all from the west to the middle, is high population. So we'll be able to do really good work. But what we've learned is how to judge the size of of the villages, and so we're doing censuses for all the villages to be able to actually know how many people are there and whether we drill one well or we need five wells. Oh, wait, a minute, we're going to do a solar tank system because that's cheaper in the long run. Rather than drilling five wells, we drill one solar tank system and then pipe the water, so people have more access to the water than having to walk to one place.

Speaker 3:

Which and yeah, talk a little bit about I mean too is because, like water for good, your guys is like infrastructure. So, like you are employing central Africans, you are training them up, giving them skills 120 of them 120.

Speaker 1:

Wow, so I mean and they love their job. I have not talked to any of them that want to leave. We've had to ask a few to leave because discrepancies, but we they want to stay. They like the way we take care of them. We have health programs. We have, you know, a lot that we do to make sure they're treated correctly. They're we're paying normal rates I'm a little higher than normal rates and so they really like our jobs. So they nobody wants to leave, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Which is fun.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that is awesome.

Speaker 3:

And then in the villages too, that where you're putting those. So the new solar tank systems which I've got to see as you guys are installing those, yeah. Got tap stand operators and so each like I mean, yeah, unpack a little bit.

Speaker 1:

We got nearly. Let's see, we've got 250 tap stand operators and they're paid by the water that's pumped. So they have to charge for the water. They're paid a portion of that. So a percentage of that I think maybe 15, 20 percent of that goes to their salary. So we don't have to pay them out of our, our working funds. We're paid by the water that they're selling. So if they sell better, they do better. If they sell worse they don't get as much. But all of them have run businesses in the towns so they know about business and how it works. And then we hire them to do our work and they said most of them will say, hey, what I was making before running my leather shop, running my hardware shop, was nothing compared to what I'm making now. I love this job.

Speaker 3:

And like I mean how cool for them to get to. Like you're literally like pouring life for your community. Yeah. It's you're not going and waiting in line like a foot pump. Yes, they're literally turning on a faucet and being able to fill up. Yeah, these yeah.

Speaker 2:

What I think, just thinking back to where we started, of you experiencing growing up just lack of infrastructure, yeah, lack of stability, and you all are helping to create that in a very sustainable way. Thank you, that's beautiful. Yeah, it's really beautiful. I love it so for you leaning towards retirement, going on the six month don't pick up the phone and call me list. But what are you excited about for the future as it pertains to Water for Good? Central Africa.

Speaker 1:

I'm excited about where they're taking it. The younger generation, everybody that is working for Water for Good now, except for one or two in the state side, are my son's age. I'm going OK, so they're a good bit younger than I am. Yeah, yeah, but they know what they're doing. They're doing it well. I just need to work hard at keeping my mouth shut.

Speaker 1:

Just saying you know, I've gotten upset with a couple of them a couple times and they're patient with me. They're going OK, dad, no, forget this, forget this out. So I think for me I see a real possibility that they will actually move across the country and be able to actually make things work, where I was just struggling from day to day for a long time for the first probably six years and I kept growing, I kept doing different things. I had teams come out. Now we have teams come out, but it's donor teams. People come out and they want to help dig a well. I said these guys got it you don't need to do that.

Speaker 1:

If you would just tell them they're doing a good job. You're really impressed by how they're doing it and what they're doing. When you see a guy doing the cement work, compliment him on what he's doing. They're going OK, I'd like to do the cement work.

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 1:

They know how to do all this, so you need to, if you could help them realize their value. What I want to do is add value and integrity to the Central African. If you will help me do that, I'll take you anywhere you want to go and they, they go. Ok, it's not what I was imagining, but, ok, I get it, because these are the people that they are running the company. It's their country, it's their business and they know how to do it. We need to compliment them and add pride and integrity to their lives and not worry about what we need Love. That All right.

Speaker 3:

So, jim, I could listen to you tell stories for hours. We like to end every episode with what we call. It's a little like rapid fire question, so don't put a whole lot of thought into these. But so favorite comfort food in the CAR and the US.

Speaker 1:

Favorite comfort food in the US is a Snickers bar and a mocha mocha coffee.

Speaker 3:

OK, I don't have a whole lot of those in the CAR.

Speaker 1:

Nope, and favorite comfort food in CAR is an almond croissant and a mambire, which is a traveling manioc wrap.

Speaker 2:

All right. If you could have a superpower for a day, what would it be To?

Speaker 1:

fly back and forth from CAR. There you go. Yeah, just to be in CAR and be back. It's like telephoto.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, macy's told me about some of your travels over there, so that sounds like a good one. Good choice, good choice.

Speaker 3:

All right. So what's your favorite food in the CAR? And just three words.

Speaker 1:

Workaholics Poor, happy.

Speaker 3:

When did you get your first hat?

Speaker 1:

When we were on our honeymoon.

Speaker 3:

OK.

Speaker 1:

My wife bought me my first hat in Disney World.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Nice and worn one ever since.

Speaker 3:

So whenever we're in the CAR, he actually they have a hard hat that was made for him that is, in the shape of his hat. All right.

Speaker 2:

So that leads me to my next question, which I'm freelancing this one. So what celebrity do people compare you to, and why is it Harrison Ford? Wait a minute, you already answered it.

Speaker 1:

That's no fair.

Speaker 2:

Seriously, has anybody ever compared you to Indiana Jones, harrison Ford?

Speaker 1:

Well they I mean they often say well, you're not Harrison Ford, but you're Indiana Jim, indiana Jim.

Speaker 2:

The hat, he's got the voice, the adventure, so OK. So seriously, you commented on the loving the coffee before, so how many cups or pots of coffee do you drink a day?

Speaker 1:

So I probably drink at least six cups a day, wow, and sometimes more.

Speaker 3:

That's before 6 am, right? What that's before 6 am right? No?

Speaker 1:

I drip, I get up, make coffee, make my wife a cup of coffee, and then have my devotions and my reading and then start answering my WhatsApp messages and so forth.

Speaker 3:

Well, jim, I just want to thank you for your time today. Thanks for being on this. Your book. So One Drop of Water, tons of stories in here, is incredible. I highly recommend any of our listeners to get a copy of this. Where's the best place for them to find this? Right now?

Speaker 1:

me OK.

Speaker 3:

Well, we will put Jim's info in the podcast description to get a hold, because this is a yeah, thoroughly enjoyed this. Just the stories and the amount of, yeah, the lives that have been touched through your work and just the I mean I still have the tagline. I mean, honestly, I had a mark out in here. I kind of want to read this. So you ended your intro with if you want a story about an extraordinary person, find a different book. If you want a story about an extraordinary God who chooses to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things, keep reading. And as I read through this, I was just highlighting the names of all of the people who were a part of your story and journey and Water for Good as it's grown, and to think of the ripples that come out from all of those. It's just an incredible, incredible story. So I want to thank you for who you are and the legacy that you've built and led and the generations that are going to be touched by the work that you guys are doing. It's truly, truly inspiring.

Speaker 1:

So I just thank you for the opportunity to be here and to talk with you, and we were looking forward to maybe seeing you out in.

Speaker 3:

February again. Yep, I'm looking forward to some more of those morning runs. It's good times.

Speaker 2:

Yep, awesome, thanks so much. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Stories that Move brought to you by Dream on.

Speaker 3:

Studios. Make sure to subscribe so that you don't miss the next episode and remember, if you or your organization have a story you're eager to share with the world, dream on. Studios is here to bring that story to life.

Speaker 2:

Don't hesitate to reach out. You can find us on LinkedIn, instagram, facebook or visit our website at dreamonstudiosio. We understand how overwhelming it can be trying to bring your vision and story to life, but that's why we exist, and we've walked alongside hundreds of clients doing that very thing.

Speaker 3:

We believe every story has the potential to inspire, to move and to make a difference. Let's make yours heard.

Speaker 2:

Until next time, keep moving forward and keep telling those stories that matter.

Speaker 3:

Take care, everyone. We'll see you next time on Stories that Move.