The past few days I have been working with Andrew the village of Usolanga which is about a two hour drive away from Iringa. One of Emmanuel International's projects here in Tanzania is the creation of sustainable, clean drinking water sources. And in a country like Tanzania that basically has two seasons, dry and wet, that means utilizing the torrential down-pours of the rainy season in the middle of the hot and dry time through water storage tanks.
EI has constructed a bunch of these rain-water tanks that basically catch the water off the rooftops and stores it in huge tanks to be used during the dry season. The tanks are remarkably simple in design, but that's why they work. To build these huge cisterns EI has to organize the labour, construction materials, time-lines and funding and it is no small task. To build an identical tank in Canada it would take a couple of weeks. Here in Tanzania, it takes at least a month and that's if everything goes according to plan. Like most developing countries, Tanzania has a chronic shortage of skilled labour and finding suitable building materials can prove to be difficult and costly. Despite the challenges, EI Tanzania has been getting the job done.
So for the past two days, Andrew and I were working with one of the water projects currently under construction at a medical clinic run by the Anglican Church. It was awesome to see the work being done there and nice to pitch in and help where I could; shovelling, tying down sun-shades and cold-welding. I should mention though how incredibly hot Usolanga is. Unlike Iringa and Kilolo, this village is down thousands of feet from the highlands and as a result endures the full brunt of the sun's rays. The thermometer in our EI accommodation house said it was 38 degrees Celsius at 2pm and it only got hotter. Because of the heat, work begins at 6 in the morning and ends at 2 in the afternoon just as the sun reaches it's thermal zenith! So, as is the custom, we ended work and went inside for an attempted nap.
Despite the heat, it was a great experience. I really enjoyed seeing the project come along and was happy I could help in my small way. And I slept incredibly well that night. And the meals we had were fantastic, not because they were gourmet, but because I was famished! Have you ever noticed that when you put in a really hard day's work you feel really satisfied after eating and sleep really well? I think it's something that I've missed out on back home.
And if I'm honest with myself, I can admit that I actually thought fondly of the winter back home and for a moment wished there was snow outside. Wow. That's a scary thought.
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