TBM to provide wells for school and clinic in Panama

Parents line up earlier this year to register their children for the new semester at the Hato Juli School in Panama, where Texas Baptist Men plans to drill a water well. (LifeQuest Photo)

image_pdfimage_print

HATO JULI, Panama—Texas Baptist Men plans to supply a drilling rig to a Christian humanitarian organization in Panama that will provide water wells for a school and a clinic.

panama principle teacher smith425Jerry Smith (right), director of LifeQuest International, talks with the principle and English teacher at the Hato Juli School in Panama, where Texas Baptist Men plan to drill a water well. (LifeQuest Photo)Jerry and Susan Smith, directors of LifeQwest International, requested assistance from mission partners in the United States when they discovered Hato Juli School, in Panama’s Chiriqui Province, had no water source after a shallow well ran dry. The Smiths lead after-school Bible studies and other Christian programs at the school, which serves more than 600 students in kindergarten through ninth grade.

“A new well needs to be at least 60 feet deep,” the Smiths wrote in an email. “If you know of an organization, church or individual who could help with these needs, please pass this info along to them and ask them to contact us.”

panama school children425Students at the Hato Juli School in Panama wait on the building’s porch after classes. The school has been without running water after a shallow well it was using ran dry. (LifeQuest Photo)Recipients of the email included Bob Denton of Grandview, who leads the Texas Baptist Men veterinarian committee. TBM worked with LifeQwest International about seven years ago to provide pure water for a village in Mongolia, where the local water supply had been tainted with cyanide. 

After additional contact with LifeQwest International, TBM learned a clinic in Hato Juli also needs a well.

Denton will join an assessment team—along with Harold Patterson of Scroggins, vice president for TBM water ministries; Mike Tello of Weslaco, a leader of Hispanic Texas Baptist Men; and Mickey Lenamon, TBM associate executive director—in Panama May 19-23. The TBM assessment team will meet with government officials about other possible well-drilling sites.

TBM will ship a well-drilling rig to Panama that is expected to arrive in early June. TBM volunteers will teach local Christians how to operate and maintain the equipment, which TBM will leave with LifeQwest International.

A participant at the recent Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas annual meeting in Waco learned about the project and donated $6,000—enough to cover costs of the well-drilling rig, shipping and travel for the teams, Lenamon noted.


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard