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Published: October 13th 2008
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Square box, round hole.
Here's the make-shift solution to the 50/50/90mill pipe dilemma. Wednesday came with a light drizzle, a few aches and pains, and more work on the agenda. Two obstacles needed to be overcome on this day: 1) we needed join two 50 mill feeder pipes into a 90 mill receiver pipe, 2) we had to unclog a blockage that had formed in the pipe. The first problem was a foreseeable obstacle that we knew we’d have to overcome. The clog, on the other hand, was our own fault due to a mix-up in communication. During the re-routing of the creek and the construction of the dam wall we churned up a lot of dirt from the riverbed. It was arranged by walkie-talkie when to put the pipe in and out of the creek so that the village could have water at peak hours, but the pipe was to remain out of the creek when workers were present. Because of a mix-up from the shoddy radio reception, the pipe had been left in the creek during the better half of a workday and had filled with sediment. There was a clog, it was our fault, and we had to free it up.
Mark and Jorge worked up top with Nik to
A natural drain snake
The thin tree that you see Tom holding is what we used to free up the clogged pipe. When you don't have Roto Rooter, you make do. make a junction box for the 50 and 90 mill water pipes. Tom was in charge of the clog team, and over at the yacht club Dr. Henk took over operations now that he had arrived. The day on the whole was at a slower pace due to the marathon of labor from the day before. We got a lot done though, and made progress where it was needed.
Wednesday night also marked the introduction of another hero to our number, or perhaps I should say heroine. Dr. Ali Jarman from Australia had sailed with Alvei on the long passage to New Zealand (when we were “lost at sea”) and she joined us again that Wednesday evening. It took her a great deal of travel and expense for her to meet up with the ship, but we were very grateful to have her when she arrived. First off she’s a doctor (which is nice to have when working for a medical organization), and secondly she brought a violin. I haven’t mentioned much about the nights spent on Alvei, but the self-entertainment of the crew was second to none. On guitar we had Tom, Nik, and Rosie; Mark on mandolin;
No Genie-lift
Here's Dr. Henk, Pete, and Victoria making do with what they've got. and now Ali on the fiddle. We made quite a group of entertainers even though we only knew four songs. One thing I’ve learned over this whole trip is this: when dealing with local politics, the world’s most skilled team of diplomats can’t compete with a skilled musician and a rickety guitar. I’ll say that the volunteers really enjoyed the music, but the locals loved our tunes.
Thursday brought about a restructuring of my plans. We’d made such progress already that the teams needed re-distribution and a new set of tasks. We hadn’t made it to the end of the week and we were already so far ahead of schedule. Thursday saw the creation of the Sason Team, headed by Tom and Carola. Sason village had always had a reliable flow of water to their taps but this year they were bone dry. The line itself had dozens of breaks that had been patched with bamboo and other local materials, but recently they had been pushed beyond their limits. The mission of the Sason Team was to catalogue the number (and location) of breaks in the line, and then patch them up enough to get the water flowing once
The Sason Team
Superhero pipe patchers. again. Since a restoration of the Sason line was not in the original plan there were no parts specifically purchased for the job. I had, however, bought a deal of patching material that really came in handy. Certain pipe breaks were small enough that they could be bridged easily with a short length of patch tube. Other breaks were meters long in places, where the pipe had seemingly gotten up and walked away. The pipe that was still there dry and brittle since it had been exposed to the sun for so long. The job would have been daunting in even the most ideal of situations, but here we were limited supplies and only a few days to get the job done. Lucky for us, Tom Dalton and Carola Seaburger can put McGuyver to shame with their arms tied behind their backs.
Nic and Mark took the forms off the dam wall and installed a minor filter system on the water intake, while simultaneously finishing the 50/50/90 junction box. Later in the day, Jorge and Nik went to the Yacht club to start the framing process with Rose, Pete, Rosie, Vic, Kat, Nellecke, and Dr. Henk. Shortly after the
The Main Deck Orchestra
Now that we had Ali on the violin, we weren't just a garage band. framing began, decorative cement walls were erected with a myriad of shells imbedded for ornamentation. The Yacht Club began making steady progress once Henk arrived and the supply issues settled out.
On the medical front, Dr. Ali led the charge with the clinic revitalization. The situation was this: a few months ago the government nurse stationed at the clinic had left and not returned. The aid posts of the region (usually supported by the clinic) had been left on their own, and infant vaccinations normally held at the clinic had to be performed elsewhere. Our plan was to meet with the three aid post workers of the region, assess the situation, and see how we could help. We wanted to clean the place up beforehand though, so Peter Schieny fixed windows and cleared wasp nests while Ali and Claire (another MARC volunteer) cleaned out tons of filth, which had accumulated in the last few months. Oh yeah, we also planned to hold an open house at the clinic to treat anyone in the region who needed medical help above and beyond what the village health workers could provide.
To spread the word, I had to run to all
The usual
This was a standard pipe break in the Sason Line. The bamboo fix was no longer working and the breaks numbered in the dozens. the villages in the region to notify the village health workers about the meeting, and announce the clinic day to the prospective patients. The one thing I learned this particular day was that Asirok and Burbar villages are a lot further away from Banem Bay than I’d imagined.
The other Project MARC volunteer that I mentioned, Claire, had arrived earlier in the week and was camped on the shore in the village. She was here to work with the schools in the area and teach hygiene workshops as well as distribute donated school supplies, shoes, toothbrushes, etc…Claire had worked with Project MARC in previous years and was out this year on her own project (under our banner). The kids and teachers loved having her in the schools and it was always helpful when she had time to lend us a hand with the clinic. When looking at Claire's track record with Project MARC you can see any NGO's ideal volunteer candidate. This lady was another one of our heroes.
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