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Gotta' love Duct Tape, August 12th, 2008 |
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August 12th, 2008
Got up early and loaded the barbed wire in the van and took it down to the guys working on the fence. They are saying it should take about 2 days to get all the wire strung up. I then went back to the masonette to get things around for the day. Ben and Benter Mbugah are supposed to show up around 9AM this morning for me to take Benter to the Kenya Women’s Finance Trust Office. I got an aquaculture manual printed off for them to take back to Mfangano Is. to get started making a fish pond. Ben an Benter actually showed up around 11:00 AM and we sat and talked about the previous days trip to Rongo. To say they were challenged and impressed was an understatement. Ben saw that there was much they could and had to do on Mfangano. After a while we went to the base to show them some roofing panels I wanted to give them for a chicken house project and then went downtown to see if we could get Benter into the KWFT office. It was closed for lunch so we went down to the local hotel to have soda’s. On the way we met Willis and he had nothing to do right then so I invited him to have a soda as well and heartily agreed. While there the District Officer 1 caught my attention and wanted to talk. Seems Henry is still giving him a hard time about the land deal here. I apologized for his inconvenience and he basically said he is tying to tell Henry to settle down and let it rest. I told him the Area Administrator had been to visit me as well and I let him know what was going on as well. He then left on his way and I returned to the table at the Viking Hotel. I hadn’t sat there very long until the Area Administrator came to the table. I invited him to sit and have a soda and he agreed. We talked a bit about the Henry situation and he reaffirmed his desire to have me here working in Mbita. He even made some suggestions as to what kind of trees to plant on my place. Seems he would probably like me to make a resort or something like that there. The property really is a nice place and would make a nice hotel site but that is not why I am here. After a while we all excused ourselves and I dropped Ben and Benter off at the KWFT office.
I then went back to the base to work on the water supply. I took a metal plug to replace the plastic one that had blown the last time I used it. The plug fit fine so we proceeded to hook up the pump to the water pipe and get the engine started. While the whole thing was pumping one of the volunteers came down and informed me the pipe had busted that was to fill the main tan and water was spraying everywhere. I shut down the pump and went back up the hill thinking, what now!! When I arrived at the water tank the 2” pipe had cracked along the length about 1 foot. There was no other pipe o be found to replace it with so I did the next best thing. Duct tape!! Yes the wonderful invention of man that makes space flight possible and will someday be found to be the cure for cancer. I dried off the pipe and laid a piece over the crack lengthwise and pressed it firmly into place. I then wrapped the whole thing tightly with two good layers to hold it all into place. I sent Hezron down to start the pump and waited to see if it would hold. I heard the pump get started but there was no water coming up. A couple others went down to see if they could get the water pumping but to no avail. I finally went down to find they had messed with the inner tube wrap on the inlet pipe. They just did not understand the importance of getting an airtight seal on the inlet for the pump to work. I got it remedied and the water began flowing. I got word back that the repair was holding and sealing nicely. I am really going to have to work on the cancer angle for sure. Duct tape is amazing stuff. I stayed down at the pump until we had confirmation the tank was full and then we put the pump away and headed back to the masonette. By this time it was getting just before sundown.
I took a detour to the property and gave Don and Nancy a chance to see it. Much to my surprise the fence wire was already strung!! All ten strands of wire around the entire place. The gates were not finished yet so I ended up giving the fellows part of the final payment with the last 3000 shillings to be paid on completion of the job. It will be good to have it all finished and it looks like I will be hosting a weenie roast there Friday night to celebrate the completion. I watched the sunset from the property and it was beautiful!! We went back to the masonette for dinner and got ready to go to Kisumu tomorrow.
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