Advice from the Embassy & Water

Yesterday I called a plumber (Karista?). He said he'd be here today at 8am. Well... he showed up around 3:30pm! He said there was an emergency. I decided to give him grace but informed him that I felt it would be a good business practice to let the client know what's up. He agreed.

I had called Karista to help resolve a leak in our home's kitchen sink and then discuss future projects for the guest house that Alace is administrating. However, it turned out that there was another reason that I called. I didn't find this out until about 13 hours after I originally called him...

TODAY, we woke up to find a large puddle in the hallway of our home. We followed it. It led to the bathroom. Apparently, the seal between the toilet and the reservoir is failing. So, I turned off the water to that toilet, and cleaned up the mess. Fun.

3 hours later, I was surprised to find out that another puddle had developed. It turns out the water valve to that toilet doesn't completely close. So... cleaned up another mess and then put small buckets where the water was dripping. More fun. C'est la vie.

It's during those moments, down on my knees, sopping up water, that I find it necessary to remind myself that, someday soon, I will be flying an airplane over this beautiful country. Lord provide.

So, we've hatched a project to add 2 more 1,000 liter reservoirs to the compound- we already have one. We use the reservoir, along with an electric pump, during water "outages" and times of low pressure. What happens when there's a water outage and electrical outage at the same time you ask? Buckets.You can see the current reservoir in the above photo- it's behind the bush/tree thing in the center bottom of the photo. Note the tubing decending from the gutter. This photo is taken from in front of Pastor Sangoye's office, from the terrace that overlooks that backyard. The photo is taken facing South.
Here is a photo of our current reservoir and the pump, currently protected by an umbrella. This installation has apparently held up for some time! The photo is taken from the back yard, looking toward the back of our residence, facing East.

So, the idea is to "stack" 2 of the reservoirs in the backyard in the corner of the house and the wall that borders the South side of the compound. We'll tilt the gutter on the back of the house that direction and have it so that, when the top reservoir fills completely, it will then run off to the one below it. The challenge will be the weight... 1000 liters is 1000 kg. (I looked that up) which is about 2,200 lbs. (I also looked that up) WOW. Will this work? I'll find out. When I say "I", I mean me and Claude- the same Claude that just did some tile and paint work for us. Perhaps they'll have to be side by side going down the wall away from the house. The idea is to clear up the central part of the back yard (where the current reservoir is) and add a bunch more water just in case we need to lock ourselves inside for an extended period of time. Now... why would we need to do that? Hmmm.... perhaps you can google that one.

Ok.. the 2nd reservoir? We'll tilt the gutter from the annex (the adjoining building) the other direction and have the water routed to a reservoir that will sit in the driveway. The way the current gutter is tilted, the water simply dumps to the rear of the compound into the neighborhood river (also a garbage dump). So, here again, we hope to elevate it and profit from pressure due to gravity. This will, again, be more water reserve for a "just in case" scenario and give Gustave (the mission's employee) all the water he could ask for when it comes to car washing and water battles with the kids. Great for fire fighting to.

Here (above) is a view of the driveway. The photo is taken from the front gate, looking West. The clutter on the right will be slowly disposed of and the reservoir will be put in the corner. The building directly ahead is called the "Annex". The forward portion of the top floor of the annex is a storage room referred to as the "Magasin" (french word for "shop"). The Magasin is in the picture as the double doors up on a small loading dock type surface. Behind the magasin is Pastor Sangoye's office. He is our good friend and serves the team as a business agent. In the middle of the picture, you may be able to pick out a set of stairs and a doorway in the shadow- this serves as the dividing point between the two buildings that make up the guest house campus. The building to the left is known as the "guest house"- visitors stay in the top portion and our family lives in the residence in the bottom portion. If we could turn to the left, you would see another driveway that descends toward the front door of the residence. Back to the reservoir thing... My big brother Dan has plans to bring his family out and elevate the reservoir to the max. This will assist in giving the whole compound water, with or without electricity!

Ok... To the left is a picture taken from the front of the magasin's double doors, looking toward the North wall of the compound. That pile of rubbish is the same one from the previous photo... just a different angle. In this photo, you'll notice the end of a gutter if you look to the top of the photo where the tree meets the roof line. That's where the reservoir will get it's water.