All about water.

Water.  Such an important ingredient for life.  It seems that the last couple of months of my life have been dominated by thinking about water.  Fixing the community well.  Watering my trees and garden.  Struggling to get my water tanks filled.  Thinking about how to improve the well to get water to the community in a more convenient way.  Today I have hopes that some of those worries will be relieved for a little while.  Hopes, not certainties, but hope is enough for me at the moment. 

As for the well fixing, after some struggle I finally managed to get a technician to arrive very early on a Saturday morning to help us figure out how to fix the community well.  Fortunately, he managed to fish out the illusive part that had broken off into the bottom of it.  That meant a much easier and quicker fix than we had anticipated.  It required a bit of search for a welder in town and a few spots of welding on the bolt so it will not break again for a while.  That part at least.  Who knows what other things can go wrong.  Just to be sure, I again sourced some spares in Nairobi last week when I had a quick there and back again dash for some business and meetings.  If one can call a 1300 km round trip a dash.  Ha.  Anyway, the community well is in use again for now.  I have hope it will work a long time again.

In relation to community wells and hope, there is another wonderful development over this past week.  In July a certain project had come to drill another big community well with plans to put in an electric pump, a big tank and distribute water far and wide to parts of the underserved community areas around Ngurunit.  We were very happy and anticipating being able to improve the water system at the tourist camp also.  After reaching a depth of 150 meters and finding a lot of water, they suddenly stopped, pulled out all the pipes and left!  I asked why and was told that the prescribed depth was 160 meters and they had hit rock too hard to go deeper at 150, but that wasn’t deep enough as per their instructions so told to stop.  What craziness.  I thought 10 meters makes no difference if the water is there already.  Other people thought that way too and the matter was taken to the project management.   In the end, it was decided that 150 meters would work.  So last week the drilling rig returned and the hole is being redone and pipes returned.  Hope has returned that this big community well project will be a reality soon. 

Amidst all this worry of wells and finding water, on Saturday it finally rained significantly for the first time in months!!! Wow.  It was a beautiful sight.  I sat on the verandah for hours watching the rain roll in across the valley.  It rained steady all afternoon and through the night.  A gentle soaking rain.  It is a beginning.  It cleared up on Sunday but I still have hope of more rain.  The heat is building up and today clouds too are starting to form over the mountains again.  Praying this is the start of the short rainy season – early and hopefully for longer than usual, with more rain.  With the failure of the long rains this year, we could really use a good prolific rainy season now.  Let is rain.  Let it rain!!  Hope abounds….

 10 September 2021

I’m feeling sad.  A long-time tree friend was felled by a strong gust of wind today.  A tree that I have spent long hours over countless years sitting with in the mornings and evenings watching the sun or the moon rise through its branches.  Watching the weaver birds build their nests and raise their babies in the protective arms of this tree.  The parrots that live around me liked to hang out in that tree too.  Such a sad day to see it toppled over into our garden.  It was also a great producer of pods that the goats and sheep like to eat.  Whenever a gust of wind came, one could hear the pods hitting the ground.  The goats and sheep would come running to snap them up, crunching away in bliss.  Well, today the gust of wind was too strong and the whole big trunk twisted and cracked and down fell the biggest part of the tree with all its pods scattering across the ground.  Feast time for the sheep and goats.  I opened the garden gate to let them in to scramble around munching on the many pods knocked off the tree as it hit the ground.  

Amazingly the tree fell in such a way that the main part of the truck is held over the top of the fence which was left mostly in tack. The trunk that fell was actually sort of half of the main tree, though the bigger half.  So part of the tree is still standing strong with its roots firming in the ground.  Though one side is eroding away in the wash off riverbed, which is what probably weakened the trunk that finally gave up, twisted and cracked. .

I went to check the weaverbird nests that had come down with the tree.  One fortunate discovery is that most of the nests that I would watch everyday are actually on a branch of the trunk that didn’t fall.  So they are safe, if a bit more exposed against the sky as the thicker branches were on the trunk that fell.  On the down tree, I found only two nests.  One was completely empty and bare.  The other was full of feathers and nicely lined and ready to hold a family.  But I found neither eggs or baby birds.  So, seems it was just made ready but not yet filled.  Some couple will come home and find their ready house gone.  Time to weave another one.  Another fortunate discovery was that the tree had just missed the whole line of tree seedlings that we’d planted there almost 2 years ago.  So they are saved.  One of my flower bushes is under the tree completely so not sure how that will fare.  But the other flower patch was also missed. 

I’m going to miss that tree.   For a while I will have to sadly see it laying in my garden as it is very big and removing it will take some time and effort.  The wind has been blowing quite a lot this last week.  Harbinger of rain we hope.  It has been cloudy since yesterday when we even got a few drops of rain.  Praying it is building up to a proper rainy season.

I went out just now as the sun was setting to find a commotion in the bird world.  The weaver birds had come as a big group to inspect the damage.  They checked out the downed nest and took a few feathers out of it.  They flew in and out of the nests still hanging up on the standing part of the tree.  Huge chattering conversation and acrobatics in the air all around.  A couple go-away-birds came by to kwak at the damage.  A whole flock of golden breasted starlings came and perched at the very tops of the trees around looking down at the fallen giant.  I have never seen them gather like that before.  Though I do suspect that they would sometimes perch in that big tree at night.  They all swooped away as a group leaving the weaver birds to their concern about their nests.  A real conference of birds!!

The sun is down now.  Quiet has descended in the trees.  A sad evening for those who loved, used and lived in that mighty tree.  Life moves on.  Things change.  Tomorrow is another day.  So it is…

 6^th September 2021

I sat down to write and while contemplating where to start, I heard a commotion in my kitchen.  Going to check, I found my goat Ruma looking for more snacks.  She has an insatiable appetite.  It doesn’t matter that she has been out grazing all day and is given as much hay and supplemental leaves as she can eat.  She must check my kitchen every morning and evening for delicacies.  She loves fruit salad, potato and carrot peelings and cabbage.  Wheatabix cereal and the cooked soya-based dog food are also on her menu of choice.  Earlier this evening she had hit the jackpot of a plate of banana peels that I had saved for her from my afternoon activity of baking banana bread.  I had sent her off to hang out and do goat things with the other goats, but she had different ideas.  I found her climbing up on the stove to get a couple bites of the cooling dog food.  So, she is now chased off again and the door is closed.  Makes the house a bit hot but it is the only way to concentrate with her in munchy mood.  

I got back to my village in the North a few days ago from a week-long trip to Nairobi for various work and life activities.  Though only 520 kilometers separate the two places, they are like different worlds.  The day I arrived in Nairobi it rained and the whole area is quite lush and green.  On the way back I passed near Mt Kenya with its high altitude and cool weather.  I also got rained on there as I was shopping for the trip home.  Here in Ngurunit it is so hot during the day yet quite cool in the mornings.  We are praying for rain as drought like conditions are setting in.  The long rains of March to June mostly failed.  The short rains aren’t expected till mid-October.  Yet we have some hope that the rains might come early.  If they don’t come soon, things are going to get very hard.  So far there is still some pasture for grazing, and leaves and certain roots can be gathered for supplementary feeding of the livestock.  Most herds are off at distant grazing camps and following the spotty rain pattern.  But that life is hard and dangerous with risk of raids and fighting over the scarce resources.  Also, moving weak animals is difficult.  Coming from Maralal a couple weeks ago, herds of cattle were being moved towards greener climes up the mountain and I passed several dead calves left in the ditch as they couldn’t take the stress.  Very sad.  Climate change is a daily reality here in Northern Kenya. 

One major issue I’m dealing with is the Rotary community hand pump well in Ngurunit.  It isn’t working.  This well is one of the few good water sources in the area, so it is imperative to get it fixed.   One of my errands in Nairobi was to buy rubbers for the well pumping system so the first thing I did after getting back was to go fix it with the new parts.  Unfortunately, we discovered there was a bigger problem than just the rubbers.  So now I am organizing, trying to organize with some difficulty, some assistance on getting the job done.  Technicians are few and far between and transport is not easy.  Parts too.  Fingers crossed we will have the know-how and way to fix the pump within the next few days.  All will be well.  (pun noticed after the fact…haha). 

Darkness is descending as I type.  Things are quieting as everything settles down in the evening twilight.  The heat of the day is radiating off the ground and out of the walls of my house as it starts to cool down.  I have been able to open the doors for a breeze as Ruma is off to her pen for the night.  I will go out to gaze at the sky in all its beauty.  I will rest in the Peace of the moment.  Till next time…enjoy!