March 2023

The Crying Stone is a local beauty spot in the village of Ilesi, about 12 kilometres from Shalom Academy.

The stone is about forty metres tall – a large boulder balanced on a column of rock with occasional water flowing from a groove in the centre.

The rock formation resembles a head resting on shoulders and, from certain angles, looks like a person crying.

In recent years the tracks made by the water running down the rock face have been more visible because the Crying Stone is often dry. It hasn’t cried continually for years, many blaming the planting of eucalyptus trees that suck up large amounts of groundwater.

A few years ago we were thrilled when we fitted the water harvesting system to catch rainwater from the roofs and feed it to three water tanks around the school. We needed the water for cooking and cleaning.

Well, we just went one better. We now have mains water at the school. After finally getting approval from the Water Board we arranged for some locals to dig a trench from the main feeder pipe, down a track parallel to Education Way, and into the kitchen. We then laid the pipework and water began flowing within the hour.

It is a big step in our goal to create reliable infrastructure at Shalom Academy and obviate the need to bring water from the river in the dry season.

We will continue to use the rainwater during the rains.