No water

I just heard a story from our co-worker, Joseph, that I thought I'd share with you.  Joseph bought a car in November.  When one buys a car, the Mozambican government is to produce a "libreto".  He has never received this, he only got stamped papers.  He has been stopped several times but usually the stamped papers and payment of a fine do the trick.  This time, as he was going to Zimbabwe, they told him he could not continue driving the car.  He would need to return to Maputo and leave the car there.  He would also have to pay a daily fine as long as the car was parked there.  He refused to go along with that plan and spent 30 hours waiting for a resolution (they fined him for that parking time as well).  Fortunately his wife was talking with her co-worker who is a friend of the commander in Beira.  She placed a phone call and Joseph was able to leave with his car.  He still doesn't have a libreto and this could happen again until the government gets it to him.  People here have lived with this kind of thing for so long that they just take it in stride, but it is one of those cultural adjustments for us.

 

We've been without consistent running water for a week.  Apparently a transformer broke and they say it could be months before it is repaired and the supply level is back to normal.  WR has water, and most people in this neighborhood have underground tanks that fill up when the water comes on intermittently.  Apartments are different, and if the water comes on for a bit, it is quickly used up by all the tenants below us.  So Steve is getting muscles hauling water in a 20-liter container up to the 5th story.  We're perfecting the art of the bucket bath and using lots less water.  Today I had the thought, "We're becoming more like Jesus.  He didn't have running water either!"  It's interesting that there is no outcry from the general public.  Mozambicans have been through so much that a few months without running water is no big deal.  During the war they didn't have running water or electricity.  Trying to negotiate slippery stairs in the dark in the highrises was apparently quite a struggle.  We won't take water or electricity for granted again.

 

Friday a.m. I, Steve, took an early morning bucket bath before a trip to SA and Rachel stayed home.  Sometime during the day she heard a gurgling in the pump system as some water began to enter the apartment. She got excited and started opening the tap and sure enough brown water started pouring out.  Brown or not it is water we won’t have to carry up the stairs.  Like the widow with the oil jar, she starts filling every container in the house including wastebaskets, chicken waterers, empty 2 liter pop bottles, the washing machine, and the tub.  When I got home we still had water.  What I wonder is how I am going to take a shower in a tub full of water?  No problem Rachel said, just pull the plug and let it drain.  No way, we might not see this kind of water again for a week!

Sure enough, the next morning, again there is no water.  Never fear she says, we can take baths!  But, but, BUT, the water is cold I say.  So you guessed it, we have to heat water in the hot pot to warm the tub water to take a bath in water that now has the iron settled out of it.  Well all I can say it is that it was a bit better that Lake Michigan in August, but not long and luxurious for sure.  Do you think we drained it then? Nope, not on your life.  We are saving it to flush the stool you see. I am sure this saga will continue.