As promised, here is my ancient Chinese tale:

It concerns a rather impoverished young Chinese gentlemen who badly wanted to give his father a wonderful gift for his 50th birthday. He had no money to buy anything nice, and so he took an empty bottle and walked 1000 km from his home town to the coast of China. There he filled the bottle with sand from the beach and walked the 1000 km back again.

When presented with this filthy bottle full of sand, the gentleman's father was moved to tears, at having never received such a wonderful gift.

The gift, you see, was the journey - the 2000 km hike that this impoverished young man endured for the love of his father.

I was thinking perhaps that this story may be similar to your weather project. The jars themselves are not of relevance, but rather it's about the effort by the people and the journey that they have taken to find their way to you.

Or maybe I'm talking nonsense. It wouldn't be the first time.

Tim