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Henry's at it again!, August 8th, 2008 |
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August 8th, 2008
Had one of the best nights sleep since I have been here last night. I awoke almost springing out of bed. I said almost as I am, after all, 48. The plan is to go to the base and have a meeting with the leaders of SEEK to discuss an issue with a volunteer there, get the water pump repaired and go back to the masonette to get the net put together for the project in Rongo.
I dropped off Don, Nancy, Allie and Leah at the gate and went to my property to see how things were going with the fencing. They are supposed to deliver the poles and cement today and the poles are supposed to get set in the ground. I went there to meet the Canter (Mitsubishi Truck that hauled the poles) coming out with the fence crew in the back. They were on their way to get the ballast (gravel) for making the concrete. I saw Samwell there and asked him what he was doing and if he was working for the fence guys today. I was paying them for a finished job and was not thinking he was really required. He said he was coordinating the sand and water for the job of which I understood they were included in the fence job price. Turns out there is not much more than labor in that price and only the labor of the actual fence workers and not the guys digging the sand and water (both of which was extracted from my place). I then went back to the base where they were having some worship time before getting started with the day. At the end of the worship time the security guard came to me and said I had a visitor. I was wondering what that was all about so I excused myself and went outside.
There standing next to an acacia tree was a nicely dressed middle aged man who started walking my way. I walked to him and asked if there was anything I could do for him. He said he had to introduce himself first and introduced himself as Joseph, the Area Administrator. He was the second in command to the local chief. Seems Henry Okatch was back at again. Joseph said Henry had complained about me cutting the trees off my property and I asked him why that would be a problem? I told him I was under the impression if I owned a piece of property that Henry did not have any say in how I was to use it. I explained to him I did not understand Henry’s hostility toward me since I paid him handsomely for the property and he has benefited more than anyone else here. Everyone in Kenya has been so warm and welcoming but Henry for some reason is choosing to not represent Kenya good at all. He agreed with me. I showed him the plat of the property and told him that the only trees I cut down were he ones that were on the fence line and that if he went to Henry’s house he would find a very large pile of wood given to Henry’s family. I said I found it ironic that I paid for the removal of the wood, not Henry, yet Henry is getting the benefit of it all freely. He keeps accusing me of not being a good neighbor when I have been generous to him. It just doesn’t make sense. He then pointed out the 30 meter easement along the lakeshore and I told him I new about it and that too was a point of contention with Henry. He told me in no uncertain terms I was to build the fence all the way to the lake. In fact he basically ordered me to. He also said I could grow whatever I wanted to without any restrictions and the easement was my access to the lake and my benefit. I’ll bet when Henry heard that he was furious. I then mentioned that Henry demanded half of everything I grew on the easement and he emphatically stated “Give Henry nothing!!” I apologized for Henry causing such a fuss and I knew his office had much more important things that to deal with these matters. I think he was grateful for the respect. We shook hands and he left.
As he was leaving the Canter pulled up in front of the base and Samwell got out. Seems the fence builders said the nails were too long that I had bought an we had to go downtown to buy the proper size for them. I then took Samwell with me and we went downtown. We purchased the nails and talked about the job on the way back. I told him things were sometimes frustrating here because of the inefficiencies of how things get done. He thought I was talking about the lack of machines but I told him it was things like this extra trip to town to purchase nails. I had mentioned that I bought 2 kilo’s of 6” nails to them two days ago and they said nothing. Had they said something I could have bought them and there would be no need to stall the job a bit while we were going downtown. I told him if they could organize things better they could get more jobs done quicker and prosper more. I was not looking for a way to cut my cost as much as I wanted them to do better for themselves. We arrived at the land and I let Samwell off with the agreement to meet him around 4:00PM.
I went back to the base to find out the water in the house was not working. The little water that did come out was very low pressure. I asked how full the storage tank was and they said halfway They said everything that came from that tank was not working. I went out and pulled some pipes and sure enough there was no water to be found. Bummer, we had a blockage on a system that there is no diagram or blueprint of that was installed years ago. I envisioned a frog getting lodged in the pipe when the tank was empty and finally swelling up enough to cut off the flow. I got Hezron and Jarod and had Hezron go in the tank and try to see if something was blocking the outlet in the tank. I told him to be prepared because there may well be a dead critter in there. He went in and found nothing in the outlet and even ran a 8ft. Stick into the pipe with no obstruction. Now we were really going to have fun. I went to the first joint down from the tank and had Hezron excavate the pipe that ran from the main line to a tap that fed the garden. I told him to be careful but to no avail. His exuberance was more than the plastic pipe could handle and it broke at the juncture of plastic to steel. I watched as he and Jarod tried to use tools and was reminded of the importance of men in young boys lives. They really did not have a concept of how tools worked based on the design and I took some time to explain it to them. They are both orphans and have not had the advantage my own son has had having someone train them in the use of tools and doing guy stuff. We worked for a little while and it was time for lunch. The day is getting away from me and I haven’t even done anything that was planned. After lunch it was back to work and Allie came up with me to help dig. She jumped in and worked very much to the surprise of the fellows. Don came up shortly as we got the pipe excavated to remove a tee fitting to see if the obstruction may be there. Nope, it wasn’t. We shoved 10ft. tree limb up the pipe with no effect on the situation. I asked if there was a plunger anywhere as we could force some water through the pipe from the water tank and possibly dislodge the obstruction. There was not a toilet plunger to be found. A plunger, A plunger, My kingdom for a Plunger!! The only alternative now was to excavate the 40 ft. of line coming from the tank in hopes that we can shake the pipe enough to clear it. There was not much I could do while they were digging so I went to meet Samwell and get him paid for the day. He was glad to see me and I s introduced to a couple people who lived near our place. They were very glad to see me and in broken English mixed with some Luo welcomed me to the neighborhood. Samwell informed me he was leaving for a couple weeks and would not be back. I told him I appreciated his work and he very much appreciated working for me. He is a hard working young man who was laid off from a job in Nairobi and bought a small plot of land her in Mbita with his severance. Smart guy to get a place for his family to live. As we left I met Eric Okatch coming down to the property. He is going to stand guard over the fencing materials through the night along with Pastor Gombe’s brother David. I was hoping to spend it with them but I have never even got started on the net. Sticking to a plan is almost impossible here. I offered to pay him something for standing watch and he said he would not hear of it. He said this is what neighbors do for each other. What a contrast to his father and a welcome one at that. He is turning out to be a welcome friend in the area and I pray God blesses his socks off. I told him I had to meet Willis and had to leave and that I would bring breakfast to them in the morning.
I met Willis at Christ Gift Academy to discuss the charges for the poles and such. We talked over the situation with the Area Administrator and he too agreed sometimes it is a battle with some people but he said by no means to back off. I told him I really with Henry would get saved someday and it would be good to be friends but his heart is so dark it is hard to see how. He to is praying for Henry as he has been a real thorn to them at CGA as well. I left there to check on the pipe progress.
When I arrived at the base Allie, Leah and Don were walking up the driveway. I asked how we were doing with the obstruction and they informed me it was all taken care of. Seems Paul came up and helped dig out the lie and they found a mass of algae looking stuff and cleared it out. They got things put back together and the pressure at the house was better than it ever was. I still did not get to repair the water pump but at least the house has water. We loaded up everyone in the van and went back to the masonette where we had dinner and retired for the evening. I got caught up on my blog entries and emailed Lori. It started raining a bit outside and I was concerned the guys have no place to go to get out of the rain. I went downstairs and asked Don and Nancy if they thought I should go check on them but they said they know how to take care of themselves and would not stay out in the rain. I will bring them breakfast in the morning and see how they did. I wish I was there now. I really don’t like pushing a relationship like that. While I would be more than happy to follow through on such a thing I really don’t expect others to do the same. We will see how tomorrow works out.
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