There is no two without four!
Even today, a fantastic day that began at dawn and ended a little while ago.
The next village was already identified and is called Kanyumbaaka (meaning: this small house). A fairly small village, which we have chosen because of the proximity of 3 other villages which are just a few meters away as the crow flies. A few hundred people will be able to come here to get water in a few days! Yes, because the excavations went on smoothly (for once!) And after four hours of work there it was, so clean and clean. But there was no time to celebrate, in fact what the Indian promised yesterday, he took it back. By 10 am tomorrow the auger truck will have to be in Blantyre to change ownership.
We had little time to try and make another well. A village had asked for it several months ago and today we went immediately to them. A village lost in nothing, named after Ngaliche.
The time to prepare the truck is immediately the first hitch: the diesel is finished. In fact, it wasn’t planned to do two in one day. And there was no time to go with the truck to fill up, it would have taken too long.
We then retrieve a barrel and Kamanga and I return to Blantyre to fill it. However, an hour of time in those dirt roads takes all. When we get back they are all sleeping under the truck to find a minimum of shade. But they go straight to work. The terrain is perfect, we drill and in three hours we find the first drops of water! But it is not enough because shortly after we find only mud and the car has difficulty going forward. It is necessary to shoot a lot of water into the hole to dissolve it so I and Peter take the pickup truck to go to the river to get it. Peter is tired and has to eat, so while he eats he leaves me to drive and I feel the thrill (and the difficulty!) of driving a pickup truck among the dirt road of Malawi where the holes are high like a child. Now I understand what the Romans feel 🙂
But when we get to the river Agostino calls me and tells me that no more water is needed, they managed to overcome the mud layer and the problem is solved. Well, fourth well brought home! What happiness, not only mine but also of the women of the village who never stopped singing and dancing. To which I joined them, arousing, as always in these cases, much hilarity. And not so much for my stockfish ballad, but because it is seeing a man, in addition white, dancing around here!
The work is not finished yet but now we have the problem of not having the
drilling machine. There are those who say that one will arrive from Mozambique in a few days, but difficult to trust. We’ll see. In the meantime, I phoned a nun whom I met at the airport coming here, because she told me that perhaps she had a person who could help us. We will see. So for the next few days we have other work to do to, build all the concrete wells and in the meantime, with the times of Malawi, everything will settle down. I’m sure. Good night Malawi, great emotions today too.