Open Sesame

The water situation was not good at the best of times at Makumira and Henry had to carefully balance what little was in his tank between household requirements and the tree nursery. It was normal for water to flow into the tank for around half an hour at 7:00am, but when it didn’t, he wasn’t surprised.

As a last resort his nursery workers carted water from the creek, which was not too far away.

Henry was aware that no water was coming into the tank but was surprised when Nnko, the teacher responsible for the environment and infrastructure at the secondary school, arrived with four students. He wanted Henry to take them up to the intake of the water scheme ‘because there was a problem’.

It is a long journey up there and Henry did not speak much because the track is steep and slippery. But he did fathom that the teacher and his students had been up there the day previous ‘and there was a problem’.

The water scheme was established by a women’s group who apparently had used most of the funds on themselves rather than the project so the work and materials were shoddy. Farmers tapped into the line (because it was plastic, not steel) to irrigate crops and would often block the line with a screwed up plastic bag – no concerns for the people below.

The teacher and the students had been looking for blockages.

Near the intake, water was gushing, damaging the track and a farm, scouring the soil and washing recently germinated bean plants away. A student, digging for the pipeline had broken it with an adze!

‘The school had no money for the necessary parts.’

‘So why did you drag me way up here?’ Henry asked.

‘To show you.’ Replied Nnko.

Henry felt sorry for the farmer, she had lost half of her soil, which was why he felt pressure to rush, even though the cause was already lost!

They called at the school plumber, Fundi, and arranged to meet him either at his house or the intake.

It would take Henry half an hour to reach home, collect some money and another half hour to get into town. It was just after midday when he arrived in town but at midday shops closed for lunch until 2:00pm!

He had to cool his heels, but managed to buy two lengths of 4” pipe and tied them to the roofrack.

He was concerned about the farm, the repair and the time to travel as well as the necessity to irrigate his nursery that evening.

He waited outside Tanga General and at 2:05 the Indian woman arrived with her Tanzanian helper. There were three padlocks to open the steel shutters, the woman took and returned one key at a time. The concertina steel barred doors had another three padlocks, again opened one at a time. Next there was wooden doors, this time with a padlock at the top and one at the bottom. Finally there was a normal double door with a normal key.

‘Open Sesame!’ Henry said as at last he entered the shop.

The power was out! In the dim light they could not find a 4” joiner, so to the storeroom, where there were three layers of padlocked doors! Inside was pitch black. The torch batteries were flat and Juma had to run for petrol because the generator was dry!

But they didn’t have a 4’ joiner!

Henry went along to Bulk Supplies who were busy, so again he had to cool his heels! Finally, the assistant searched but could not find a 4” joiner, but while waiting Henry noticed one tied up on a display board.

‘I’ll have that one.’ Henry was not his normal polite self anymore!

The assistant finally acquiesced but jibbed on the price – Henry had Tsh30,000 in his pocket and his hand on the joiner. The assistant not sure of the price, thinking it was more like Tsh35,000. Henry did not bargain, he took the joiner and slapped the notes on the bench.

‘Don’t worry about a receipt!’ was Henry’s clincher.

After picking up the teacher and his students, Henry rushed up to the intake where Fundi had plugged the pipe with a banana tree trunk and cleared the pipe ready to make the repairs – water flowed again.

Henry located funds to rehabilitate the whole line, make improvements and to pay Fundi. He spoke to the village government about illegal tampering of the line.

Along the line new standpipes were established for the village communities, and all agreed the hospital should take priority for water allocation.

Somebody, perhaps Fundi or an appreciative person, ensured that Henry received a daily ration of water – well-judged because there was seldom excess.

It’s nice when things work out.