About one and a half weeks ago the Challenge Farm water system broke. I would enjoy giving specifics, but I still do not understand it myself. I did not realize for three days that the water system was down and that this was a very big problem. I have since recognized a major cultural difference between Americans and Africans; we Americans show emotion quite openly through facial expressions and body language if not having already spoken in words. Africans, on the other hand, always seem to be "fine." I have yet to see anyone of my co-workers have a bad day. So in the middle of the water crisis, I never noticed that there was anything to worry about. I knew that I couldn’t get water from a few sinks, but I just figured they were fixing some things. It never dawned on me that we had a limited supply of water because no one spoke of it and everyone was walking around as though life was normal. It came as quite a shock at staff meeting when the director spoke up and said something close to “concerning the water issue, I would take any suggestions as to what we could do to get water. We are running out and this is a major issue.” Keep in mind this was all spoken in a calm voice, but I knew at that moment that this was a large issue since it was being brought up at staff meeting.
I went home that evening wondering if there was any way I could help. I figured it was worth a try telling my handy mzungu neighbor Allen to see if he had any suggestions. He gladly came out the following three days and worked with our head maintenance man. The main problem is quite a major issue and costly, so they were conjuring up an alternate solution to get immediate water since it could take a while for the other. I went out on Saturday to hang out and relax plus Allen sent me with a few more items that might help the temporary solution. An hour after I had arrived, one of my happiest moments took place. I was standing around the old well with three other adults and five kids. I had been watching them for a while hoping to see some good action. Phillip, the maintenance head, flipped a switch for a pump to begin and we all stared at the water. It was actually draining! He did a quick dance while praising the Lord and then began lowering this pump into the well. He flipped the switch again and the water began pumping from the well! He did another dance and we began pumping water into buckets. I have not seen something so exciting in quite some time. I was smiling from ear to ear while thinking of how great God is for watching over his children. I’m so happy I went out to Challenge Farm on Saturday.
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