Water....
on Shona in Sierra Leone (Sierra Leone), 16/Jan/2011 10:41, 34 days ago
On Thursday morning we my shower stopped half way through– yes my hair was lathered with shampoo. Nightmare. Luckily we have a supply of water in the house for just such an emergency. It turns out that the pipe supplying our house has been cut during the ongoing roadworks. Interestingly it had been cut a week ago and our tank had only just run out.It turns out that we really take water for granted. How many times do you turn on a tap a day? Every time you wash your hands. Every time you clean your teeth (although I now use“safe” water for this”). Every time you want to wash some dishes, or to rinse them. Every time you have a shower, wash your face, wash your clothes. And here’s what takes the most water – flushing a toilet. Unbelievable how much water it takes to flush a toilet.Here’s another thing I didn’t think about before – water is SOOO heavy. Joe our amazing neighbour went to get me some water yesterday morning. He came back with several jerry cans full just so I can get through the weekend (the pipe down the road from us still works – so another kind neighbour is donating water to us). I really struggle to lift them to pour water so I’ve no idea how the little kids you see with buckets of water on their heads manage.Of course many of my VSO friends have been without running water for several months, and we only get water in the hospital twice a week so I can’t complain too much. And actually this morning, I’m rejoicing. I woke up, absolutely delighted to find that my bathroom tap is working!!!! The water pressure isn’t good enough for the shower, but you can’t have everything. I’m just so grateful for the water I now have.Electricity…Electricity is another luxury. Its helpful to keep the fridge cool, the computer and phone charged up and to give you some light to see by. I’m always very pleased when its on though (over the Christmas period we had a great supply – this week its been on about 20% of the time, compared to our normal 80%). At the hospital, we use electricity to power the oxygen concentrators. They don’t give out much oxygen as it is, but what thereis, is life-saving. This means if there’s no electricity in the hospital then children will die unnecessarily. Thankfully we do have a generator at the hospital meaning that there is (nearly) always a supply.The Trip up the Mountain Mark 2So yesterday, Freya, Alex, Laura, Andrea, David and I decided to have another go at tackling Sugar Loaf Mountain (we had a disastrous attempt when Andy was here involving 20 or so people going up the wrong path… but it was an adventure!) Happily yesterday’s trip was much less like bashing through the bush and much more like a pleasant (although very hot and sweaty) walk up a mountain. A few non-serious falls, cuts and scratches later, we made it to the top. We celebrated with egg and laughing cow cheese sandwiches and some Marks and Spencer’s biscuits (which Andy had brought out – yum!) We finished a great afternoon with a swim followed by a HOT shower at the UN!