Rainy Day

I wasn't sure what today would bring. A huge rainstorm first thing in the morning never bodes well for a good day. I'm becoming rather African in that I really don't like to go out in the rain. I'd much rather just snuggle under my sheet and listen to the rain on my tin roof for a few hours.

However, that was not to be, as someone had to go to the airport this morning. So off I went to the airport, in the pouring rain. It was seriously raining, and even though I really didn't have to walk much outside at all, I got completely soaked - even with my pretty pink umbrella and beautiful blue gumboot. At the airport, though, I had to get out of the truck to make sure my colleague made it into the airport alright. You never know on these rainy days - sometimes the planes don't land, which means they don't take off, either. So I went with her to make sure that the plane was actually going to go. However, I wasn't allowed inside the airport, because they have started using their fancy new electronic scanning machine. And it was pretty chaotic at the airport entrance. Wet people, wet luggage, and one single-file electronic scanner. Not a pretty sight. Anyway, I saw my colleague actually go through the doors, and she never called me back after that, so I assume she made it to her destination in one piece - or else she's sleeping in the airport, which, given the state of this airport, would not be something anyone should have the pleasure of experiencing!

I made it home safe and sound from the airport through the rain. I was wet. I was cold. I was hungry. And it was still so early on a rainy morning that no one was out or about (about 8am by the time I got back to the compound). So I made myself a very big mug of coffee, grabbed my sheet, my book and my cat and settled in on the couch for a bit of a rest. Zane stuck really close to me all day long - even started purring on occasion, because I think he appreciated the warmth from my body.

Later, after a bit of a rest, Zane decided it was time to get some work done.

By then, it was time to go up to the guesthouse to get my second cup of coffee for the day with the workshop participants (thankfully, I have nothing to do with the actual running of this workshop - I just get to enjoy the lunches and teas that are cooked for me!).  While there, the women who work in the guesthouse told me that the washing machine wouldn't work.  For some odd reason, the washing machine (electric, with a bunch of computer sort of controls) has been put in a corner of the verandah up in the guesthouse where the rain comes pouring in.  And I do mean pouring in.  So the washing machine was sitting in some serious puddles of water and was pretty well drenched.  That was the last working washing machine on the compound.  So here I was, rather despairing and looking ahead to months of hand-washing all my clothes again.

So then I went back to my house where Evelyn was washing up the dishes for me.  She said, "Um, T, there's a problem with the sink."  And sure enough, the tap where the water comes out had completely broken off the rest of the tap.  I'm obviously not a plumber, but it seemed pretty clear to me that this piece of metal was not going to be going back to where it had broken off from.  So I went to find a boy to help. Richard and his African Duct Tape are not in town at the moment, so I found Sean, as he's actually pretty handy.  He came armed with his own roll of Canadian duct tape.  But soon realized that duct tape wasn't going to do it.  Needed a whole new piece.  So I started having visions of having to use buckets of water from the bathroom for my dishwashing for the next few months.

But I couldn't do anything about it at the moment... so I just went back to my cat and my couch and my computer. 

And by the end of the day...

A whole new piece for my kitchen tap was found!  For FREE!  Someone from the compound here went to one of the shops where he does a lot of his hardware shopping, and they happened to have some broken taps that had exactly the part I needed for my own tap.  Because it came off of the broken taps in the store and they couldn't sell it anyway, they just gave it to us for free!  Amazing.  So now my sink works perfectly again!

It was also found that the problem with the washing machine wasn't a problem with the machine itself, either.  But rather, there was a loose connection in the actual outlet that it was plugged into :)   A replacement outlet was easily found and installed, and I got to put a load of laundry in the machine this afternoon!

Small things in the grand scheme of life, but small details that just got taken care of in amazing ways today.  So I'm very thankful that there are people around to help with these little things, and that the Lord put all the bits together so it could all be fixed on the same day :)  So I still got to enjoy some good rest in the cool weather!