If the last part of The Water Saga was all about the
negative things about that project, then this is about all the positive things
that made it possible. After the
students and other people failed to help with the ditch-digging, I decided to
call in a few friends to help out. Since
July I’ve formed an English Speaker’s club that consists mainly of male
university students. Strong university
students who apparently have nothing better to do on a weekday than come out
and help a gringa in distress. First
came Richar (spelt without the “d”…yeah, I know) and then after lunch we called
up another English speaker, Carlos, and convinced him to show up, without
telling him why.
“Aw, man,” he complained when we revealed our devious plan,
“and I’m wearing my nice shoes, ‘cause I was gonna see my girl after this.”
“What girl?” scoffed Richar.
The last time we checked, Carlos had a total of zero girls.
“Which one you
mean, eh?” he winked.
Oh, boys.
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| Carlos, Richar, and Cirilo, the water committee's treasurer, who came out to help dig |
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| Chico and Justo helping out |
Before we had started digging, the staff warned me that
exactly where we were digging was where they bury the placenta after a woman
gives birth. They had apparently forgotten
to tell me this during the planning process. The boys weren’t fazed until I told them what
a placenta actually is…and then we came across one. I am not very squeamish with visual grossness,
but olfactory grossness is another matter, and this was a recent enough one
that it sent me and the boys running until we finally gathered enough courage
to quickly dig a new hole to bury it in.
Just wanted to share that pleasant story with you all. We came across three more that day. There ya go.
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| Our ambulance driver, Eugenio pitched in too |
The next day, despite supposed work conflicts, and
still-sore war wounds, three men from the health center helped me dig the
remaining few yards to the proposed pila site.
Then another amazing thing happened when the man Don Marcial found to
build the pilas finished his work in a mind-blowing three days. Pretty soon, the pipes were installed, and
the moment of truth came when the schedule moved around, and we had water.
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| Our cleaning ladies, Luci and Juana, were very happy |
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| Don Marcial and me, he does smile occasionally, I swear |
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| Yadira, a few of our pregnant ladies, and me with our pila...they also smile occasionally as well. |
And so, after more than a year in gestation we finally have two big, beautiful concrete babies, that fill my heart with joy.
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