All the places you never want to go on vacation: It's hot here! Looking for Kenema District Well Sites.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

We had an interesting night. The fan worked great and after a few hours I had to turn it off because the air conditioner also began working. Then I got too cold and had to put on my sweater! I finally fell asleep about 2 AM.

I went into breakfast after Jim did as he had eaten earlier. The breakfast was really good—a slice of pineapple, eggs anyway you like them (I had scrambled), with some veggie mixture with some baked beans and a couple of small, sweet plantains, and 3 slices of good French bread and one breakfast cake. They had coffee or tea only, so I had a pineapple juice, which I had to pay for.

Jim, Jonathan, Mohamed (of SALWACO) and of course the driver, left about 9 AM and the power went off. I was thinking I could do work in the room but when they didn’t start the generator I asked at the desk. (When the city power goes off, hotels use their generators to keep the electricity on). I found out that they don’t turn their generators on till 1 PM and turn it off at 3:30 PM. They turn it on again at 6:30 PM till 8 in the morning. Dog on! I thought maybe I should have gone with the guys if I couldn’t get work done at the hotel and Jim almost had them come and get me. (As I learned later, Jim wouldn’t want me to ever do the trip that they did, so it was just as well I stayed back at the hotel.)

I finished the Trip Report for Liberia and eventually sent it later on to Teerlink’s for correction before sending it on to our bosses. At 9AM I was already hot in my room. When I went outside I saw how cool my room actually was in comparison.

I had lots of wash to catch up on, so I worked on that till 10:30. And then I sat and sweated and read a book and sweated some more. I poured water down the front of me to try to keep cool. I changed to cooler clothes. I read a book and tried to think cool thoughts! I wet my clothes, still no relief; I got down to my underwear and wet it also, but that still didn’t work. I realized that unless you have something blowing on you it doesn’t work and I was washing my underwear on my body….duh! Then glory be, the city power came on at 11:00!! I was so relieved. I put on the air conditioner and fan and basked in the cooling room!! I charged my computer and phone! I was so happy!!

I finally got hungry enough to leave my cool room, and went to the top of the restaurant (you eat below in the AM and the rest of the day above). I ordered a small meal and was pleased to feel a slight breeze. The city power went off and then they turned on their generators again so I was cool and happy till 4 PM. I was amazed how quickly I was sweating again so I decided to go outside and maybe order a cool drink. As I did, Amarachi and her children showed up—perfect timing. We all had a cold drink and waited till almost 6 before the guys got back. We ordered dinner and when the power came on again, I hurried down to the room to turn the air conditioner on again.

After listening to the story about what the guys did, I was glad I stayed here after all. The best news is that we will be going home in the morning! I did a happy dance in my mind! I was complaining about my day till I heard about theirs. The roads were made for bikes and not cars, and the rotting boards over water were dicey (they all got out of the truck and hoped the driver’s wheels would stay on the boards!) They went up and down incredibly steep hills, having to use 4-wheel drive. Then they’d hike down long paths to streams or watering holes (that made one very sweaty) to see where these people get their water—pretty bad. There was only one stream that seemed almost okay, but the rest looked very dirty. Some of the places that they wanted to put wells in this area of the District weren’t accessible. Only something like a Village Drill would work so that equipment could be carried in. So, I’ve stopped complaining (well, maybe a little bit). It is stinking hot here!!

Getting the wheels on the right boards that weren’t rotting was dicey enough so that all the men bailed out. At one point one of the wheels was only half way on the board. Jim said the trip was hard and doesn’t want me to go with them on any of these trips.

Showers never feel better than at the end of these hot and sticky days! We said farewell to the Cobinah children (they call us grandparents because they don’t have any living ones here in Africa), but Jonathan and Amarachi will be here in the morning to say goodbye once again. We hope these projects will begin this summer. Jonathan and Mohamed have to go in again to find more places we can work. The Village Drill will be used for another project in the future.