West Africa Journal

When a flame shot out of the switch on our water pump, my heart dropped. Finances have been very tight and another maintenance problem was not what I needed. I scraped enough money together to get another switch only to find that the water pump was burned out and the broken switch was its safety. Unfortunately parts can not be returned and I felt a bit sick about wasting the money. I began to hope for early rain so I could at least pump water into my house from the rain tank, using a smaller pump. The kids could manage ok without the pump for awhile as they are close to the main cistern.
It rained once and I eagerly turned on the pump only to hear….nothing. The plumber confirmed that it too was burned out. Since there was no money to replace the pumps, for three months I paid workers with used clothing to carry 5 gallon containers of water, climb a very high ladder and dump the water in my tank. Then one of them fell off the ladder and they lost interest in helping out. Laundry and bathing had to be done in a bucket of cold water. I despise cold baths. I despise having to carry water by bucket for every need. I tried to be enthusiastic about the new muscIe tone in my arms but I grew very tired and discouraged instead. Water is HEAVY to carry.
Having company in the house forced me to find a solution and this is where life in Africa becomes unique and unbelievable at times. I borrowed money to buy a small pump to put in my rain tank. It has been raining now for several weeks and the rain tank was full. The plumber installed the new pump and I waited eagerly to switch it on and fill my house tank, dreaming of a warm shower and reducing the mountain of sheets and towels waiting to be washed in the machine. We started the generator, switched on the pump and….nothing. The new pump didn’t work. The plumber assured me he could return it for another one. As he left, I wandered over to the rain tank and looked inside, gloating about it being full to the brim, anticipating the hot shower tomorrow…..What I saw though was the bloated body of a kitten that had gone missing several days before, floating in the tank. It must have fallen in while trying to drink. I called one of the boys to come fish out the cat and with a sinking heart I opened the valve and watched all the precious but contaminated water gush onto the ground. The next day the plumber installed another pump but we couldn’t use it yet as I was waiting for one of the kids to return from town with bottles of bleach to clean out the tank. The bleach hadn’t arrived yet by the time the plumber had to leave. The much anticipated hot shower was becoming a dying dream.
We finally got all the kitten-bits cleaned out of the tank and disinfected it all and then waited for the rain to come. It is rainy season. It rains every day. But it didn’t. It didn’t rain for another 2 days while I waited. And waited.
Finally, 5 days after the purchase of the new pump, the rain came. It was only a bit but it was enough so we could flush the toilets – the first time in over 3 months and it was a joyous occasion. The hot shower…well…after being so long without water I am afraid to waste what we have so I am still bathing out of a bucket but it’s warm and its coming out of the tap! We also covered the rain tank so other animals can’t fall in….

Filed under: Uncategorized on July 18th, 2010