Thursday, August 11, 2016
I don’t think I’ve
ever slept so long. I took another cold
pill and took it early. I slept for 2
hours before waking up briefly at 11 PM.
I briefly turned on my lamp by my bed.
In Africa they typically have the on/off switches attached to the electrical
cord. After a short time I turned it off
and it blew up! It also blew the circuit
in our room so we had no electricity. We
called the desk and they sent the electrician to reset our breakers so that our
power came on. When he carried my lamp
away I noticed that the entire cord had been severed! Like I said, this place has some serious
electrical problems. The good thing is
that I went back to sleep anyway, and slept till 8 AM.
Checkers…
Jim had felt so bad that he didn’t
know if he’d be able to go this morning, but by 10 AM he was feeling better. This time we were gone till 6 PM; it was a
very long day, and in the middle of it the sun came out for a long time and so
it was even more tiring. The humidity is
so high right now--adding the sun sapped our energy even more. Elder Wollenzien drives so fast on bad roads
that we wildly fly up and down in the back seat. The best thing I did later in the afternoon was
to eat an ice cream cup. It is locally
made and very good. It was pure comfort food and got me through me through to the
end of the day.
These boys were playing
‘pool’ on this little table. I am not
sure how it works when there is nothing to catch their rocks when they hit them
apart and they fly off.
Today we saw more
latrines, all working and surprisingly clean—most were public bathrooms with
septic systems; we saw more wells and again all were working. We did run into one that was not collecting
money, so Morris is going back there on Saturday to rework the water committee
and get them to start charging. These
pumps are lasting a long time, but most are still collecting, and that is the key
to longevity. The latrines are actually
making money and most have added to their leech fields. We told one group that if they wanted their
septic tank cleaned out, that they could run a pipe to the street, put another
tank there so that a truck could come and clean it out. Then they wouldn’t have to build more leech
fields. I suspect that they will do
it. They have already done more on their
own.
Two years ago a public bathroom
was completed but it was in an area that also could not be reached by a truck,
so the city said that they would hook it up to the city sewer if the community
dug a trench and laid the pipe to the hook-up point. They did that, a long time ago, and the city
has been paid. The official kept making
excuses (this means that he was waiting for a bribe). The Church will not pay
the bribe. In the meantime the local
lady that is over that area, is trying to get him removed for corruption. The community is so tired of waiting for this
to happen that they have finally decided that they will simply do it
themselves. They are capable but the
government claimed that they ‘had to do it’ (the final hookup). We are glad that the community is taking
matters into their own hands.
This gal is missing one
leg; she was demonstrating for us how she will get to use a bathroom on her own
from her wheelchair when the turnover ceremony takes place. What is holding up the turnover is that the
community has to secure an open well for safety reasons, and remove the old,
very horrible outhouses that are made of metal.
These new latrines have wheelchair ramps. They have a few light-colored panels on the
roof so that the bathrooms will not be so dark.
It is like having a skylight.
We had great fun when
we watched the fishermen trying to bring in this fishing boat. It was a tedious process, waiting for the
waves to help them along. They do this
every day—getting the boats in and out of the water. Even Elder Wollenzien
helped them pull.
There were rows and
rows of beautiful, old fishing boats.
A hard but interesting day,
checking on projects in Liberia.
Love, from the Palm Spring Resort
Hotel
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