In Lent each year I like to give something up and to do
something proactive. The combination of these disciplines reminds me of Jesus’
journey to Jerusalem, where he actively moved towards a goal, with the
knowledge he was giving up his life.
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A Lenten still life.
Taps, plumbers tape and my coffee plunger.
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This year the fasting half of my Lenten discipline was
coffee. A coffee with breakfast in the village is part of my ritual that starts
the day well. Giving it up was hard. Going on the YWAM ship during Lent, where
they had good coffee easily available made it harder. Still, my daily reminder
of sacrifice was a part of my Lenten journey.
The active half of this year’s Lenten discipline was to work
on providing taps for the community tanks in our village. I think that was the
harder journey!
Water can be a challenge in our village, with very
few people having private tanks. I am one of the few and struggle with watching
the women walk past to the bush well when I have water on tap in the house.
There are two public tanks in Ubuo village, but both of them are broken. One tank
has no lid and no tap; therefore no-one has plumbed it with gutters to catch
water from the nearby school roof. The other tank has a broken tap, so although
it is full of water, it cannot be accessed except for catching the drips from
the tap. My Lenten idea was to fix these public tanks with working taps so that
the community could have water, and my conscience would be eased over my
private tanks.
In planning and ordering taps for tank repairs, I also
visited the neighbouring village, Mira Goiravi, to find out the state of their
community tanks and was shown three tanks. One had no tap, no proper base and
no catchment area. The discussion was that if I provided the tap, they would
organise the rest. The second tank had a spectacular jury rig of a tap that I
hoped to improve. The third tank had a huge hole cut into it where a drunk had
one day attacked the tank with his knife. This is a good illustration of the
benefit of NGOs helping to provide multiple small private tanks: one idiot
cannot deprive the community of life giving water.
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| Bush mechanic jury rigged tap. |
With my information gathered, I sent measurements and
requests to a friend in the Highlands to send parts down on a flight. The parts
arrived while I was on the YWAM ship and I was ready to install them when I
returned to the village. While I was on the ship, I found out that one of the
crew, Simon, had a particular interest in helping communities fix their tanks,
particularly through the provision of taps. It is a sad fact that tanks are too
often provided without a tap, meaning they are of no benefit to the community.
When YWAM did a clinic in my village, Simon was able to come along and make
sure I had all the necessary parts for my impending tank repairs. I spoke with
leaders in the community and told them that once our tank had guttering in
place, I had the tap ready to install. In the next village it was a similar
tale, that once a foundation and guttering were in place, I had the tap ready.
Everyone seemed pleased to finally have their tanks on track to being
functional.
Fast forward a few weeks and I am back in the village again.
It has been dry and people are walking past my house to get water from bush
wells. I ask people in the village what is happening with the tank
preparations, as I am standing by with taps.
In my village, the school maintenance has been focussed in another area.
They are reinforcing the floor as it broke one day as there were too many
students in class. The gutters will happen ‘later’. When I ask about ‘later’ it
turns out that people do not know where the guttering that was in the office
has gone.
In the next village, I am quickly finding out that two of
the three tanks I was initially told are community tanks are actually private.
Only the useless tank with the big hole belongs to the community. One of the
private tanks was supposed to be public, but has been claimed by the largest
family in the village. The village magistrate and others talk with that family,
suggesting that if they are willing to make it a community tank, I am willing
to provide a tap, but they are not willing. I have made it very clear that I am
only providing taps for tanks that service the whole community, not for
individual families, so I find myself with two spare taps and no repaired tanks
in the neighbouring village.
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| Testing the tap for size… we then removed it until the gutters were in place. |
Fast forward a few months, and a phone call from the village
tells me that the tanks are still not repaired. The school tank still has no
gutters, so the person who I gave the tap to has not put it on. He is someone I
trust to keep hold of the tap until the tank is ready. The other tank, with the
broken tap, is still full but unusable. People are not willing to empty the
tank to replace the tap. So that tap and tank also sit unused.
When I think about the women walking into the bush to get
water from the well I am sad. Before I felt guilty because I had my own water supply,
but now I am sad. Sad because the resources are there to fix the community
taps, but for complex reasons beyond my understanding, it has not happened. I
am sad because I suspect it is largely the politics of men that keep the women
doing the hard work. Sad because I wanted to bless the community, the women in
particular, and feel like I have got nowhere.
This exercise in taps and tanks started in Lent and
continues well beyond Easter. I sought to bless people, but have been
prevented. This really leaves me with a lot more of Lent to reflect on, as
Jesus too sought to bless yet was, and is, rejected by so many. If I grieve
over taps and water, how much more must God grieve over those who reject the
eternal water of life.
