Florencio's Well

Here in Paraguay, we have met some some amazing people who perform incredible tasks with their hands and a few simple tools. Our neighbor Florencio digs wells and septic holes for people in our community.

Barefooted, he digs the 30-70 X 6 foot holes with a shovel and a stick which he rotates to form a perfect circle. 

When Floerencio reaches a depth where he can no longer throw the dirt over his head and out of the hole, he rigs up a pulley system attached to a bucket. An assistant turns the crank to raise the bucket of dirt out of the hole, removes the dirt, then returns the bucket to Florencio to be filled again.

Finally, he lines the well with handmade bricks, to maintain and support its structure.

As we walked to different parts of our community, Mark and I would stop by Florencio’s work site, stick our heads down into the well and ask him how it was coming along.

 Florencio seemed happy that we took so much interest in his work, as, to the rest of the community, it is commonplace. When we asked him about his work, Florencio just smiled and responded, “Es mi vida." ("It’s my life.”)