Dear Family & Friends,
After a day of mostly rest yesterday we decided to check out the area
where President Roggia wants us to put some wells, in a place called Godrich. We will need some direction because it looks
like for the most part they have plenty of money and water in that area.
We have another truck lent to us, that was supposed to have 4-wheel
drive but we got stuck in the sand and had to have some guys push it out for
us. Jim checked and saw that the front
tires were not moving…now we are wondering if it will make it back up the Grafton Road —did it ever have 4-wheels working? It is dicey just getting up a couple of steep
drives after leaving the house. It drove
not nearly as well as the other truck and my head, neck and back hurt from the
jarring. In consequence I’ve been
inspired to add another verse to my song, and if you didn’t read my last letter,
this is to the tune of “These Boots are Made for Walking” by Nancy
Sinatra: “These roads are made for
walking, that’s just what you should do, ‘cause these roads aren’t made for
driving, they leave you black and blue. You
cannot be too careful, this much I know is true, ‘cause one of these days a
pothole, is ‘gonna’ swallow you!” I have
a feeling that my song lyrics, puzzle making ability & my genuine imitation
of a puppy crying will not bring me much fame or fortune.
The best part of the day was watching the fishermen hauling in their nets—it
took forever, and there were no large fish, just lots of small ones. They
barter for fish before the catch comes in. This is also where we got stuck in
the sand and discovered we didn’t have 4-wheel drive after all.
We watched these
guys for ages as they pulled and pulled till finally their catch came in. Only small ones.
When we got home we decided to walk to the bottom of the hill from where
we are staying and there we found a spring!
Jim got so excited and so did E/S Burns—what a perfect spot to do a
spring development, right in their own back yard!
Gee, I am SO tired…the air conditioner also does not work in the truck
very often, always sapping our strength.
Then our young guard informed us that our water tanks are low, very low,
and that it is city water and something is broken but he is sure it will be
fixed…they don’t fix things here sometimes for years. The Burns’s don’t
seem to be too concerned. I know what it
is like to live without water because it happened when we were in Kenya . The last
three weeks of our mission we didn’t have any and it is an interesting
existence. Even so, we still don’t know
what it is like to be an African. And I
don’t want to find out either. I dread
the day we run out. I suggested they see
if they could have water delivered as the mission office and home do.
However, we don’t know if a water truck could maneuver these bad roads
to their house. I really hope things don’t get that
interesting…I’m not in the mood to be a good sport!
Love, mom & dad, Jim & Karen, E/S Greding
Fish isn’t the
only thing that they bring out of the sea.
The high tide takes it back out and then they drag it back in again with
their nets…we wonder if they thought to remove it so they wouldn’t have to
repeat this cycle! The water is very
warm, but any person not wanting to get sick would never swim there. It is a bit of a cesspool near the
shore. Lots of children were swimming in
the surf.
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| Lots of little fish, previously bargained for. |
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| Right below the house we found this spring--there were many, but this one would be large enough to develop. We are very excited to find this. |
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| Children carrying babies, a common site. |
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| Spring catchments possibilities. |
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| One spring catchments in place (we could do better than this tough!) |
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