Banem Bay Part 5

Our second workweek in Banem Bay was less labor intensive than the first week. After we got the water up and running, we found out that the increased water pressure was more than the water pipe could handle in places. Most of this second week was spent patching the water line where leaks had sprung due to the new high pressure. The old pipe is well past its prime and is brittle in many places because it was never properly buried. We found all the weak spots during the week because they kept springing leaks to let us know where they were.

We had set out to increase the water pressure enough to feed villages further on the water line but we had done too good of a job! We had accomplished the goal of getting water up to the school, and had even pushed the water on to the next village down the line (called Repatsivir). As the water pressure increased over the days, we found out that the water had pushed further than we thought it could. After the water pipe goes to the school it continues on to Repatsivir and Retur villages. I felt certain the pipe was broken beyond repair after Repatsivir village, but I was mistaken because the water managed to make it half the distance to Retur before spilling out of a massive pipe brakeage. The people of Retur were so grateful to have water so close to their village. The walk to the pipe break was a much shorter trip than the distance they usually had to walk. And this shorter walk was also over flat ground.

Tom Dalton spent this second week splicing breaks in the line with Carola, and managed to accomplish a great deal. At the clinic, water had ceased to run out of the tap but somehow the Sason team fixed the line enough to get it flowing again. We had run out of splicing material by mid-week, but it didn’t slow Tom down. Working with the local men from Lambul he managed to scrounge up some local materials, and continued to join the pipes together. He was dead-set on getting the water pipe to Lambul. One day Kat and Gabs went to help with the Lambul line, and when they returned for lunch at the clinic they were all soaking wet. Apparently the unexpected shower was becoming quite a popular thing.

Despite the continual pipe ruptures, we all managed to keep things pretty light hearted. On one day of the week several of the volunteers went up to Norsup (a Northern town in Malekula) to buy more parts for the water system. The trip took hours and our crew was stuck in the back of a pick-up truck with 20 other men, women and children. The guys that went did get to enjoy a few luxuries of civilization once they got to Norsup, so they weren’t too upset by the ride. Unfortunately, the town hardware shops didn’t have much in regards to plumbing supplies and the trip was relatively fruitless. The parts that the villages needed had to come from large cities on other islands.

The yacht club was brought to the point of its construction that Henk had set as his goal, and several boats arrived in the bay to celebrate the grand opening. Hopefully the local villages will finish the construction according to Henk’s plans and get the yacht club up and running. If everything works out, it could turn into a real money making enterprise for the villages and allow people to afford some of the some of the everyday luxuries that many of us take for granted (like secondary education for their children).
The people in Banem Bay know how to fix the water system for themselves now. They have the knowledge and ability to do so once they get the parts that they need, but getting the parts is often the problem. The cost of the individual parts is not the prohibitive factor; it’s often the transportation of those parts. If the pipe fittings and taps were available at the local stores on the island the people of the villages would simply purchase what they needed and install it. When the cost of transporting the goods is thrice the cost of the equipment (or more) is becomes too much for the village to afford.

As our teams left Banem Bay I asked the chiefs to raise money among the villages to buy parts for maintenance of the water system. The plan was that we would return after the Espiritu Santo expeditions and take some men with us to Port Vila so that they could buy parts with the community funds. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough money raised upon our return in October to warrant the proposed shopping trip, but despite the setbacks I’m very hopeful.

The weir wall that we built along with the other improvements we’ve made will provide enough pressure for the system. The local men and women don’t need our help to repair the minor problems that will spring up in our absence, but there is still more that we can do to help the communities in Banem Bay. One example is Remith village, which was originally connected to the water line but was removed several years ago because of leaks and pipe breaks. If possible, I’d like to come back and re-establish that line in the future. After seeing what we’ve done for the Sanusup Elementary school and the communities in Repatsivir and Retur it seems only right that we should try to do the same for Remith.

The surveys that we conducted have identified several other areas of pressing need, however. There are villages along this coast with worse water situations than Banem Bay, and people with greater needs. Project MARC plans on coming back to Malekula next year and there are many projects on the drawing board. Make no mistake, prioritization of these projects will be heart wrenching indeed, because funding is limited every year. All the villages we plan to help are in need, and until that changes we won’t turn our backs.

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