Day 19: Breaking down the wall

A mechanical pump, is going to be brought to us from Ben Adongo. This is very good news. Even though repairing the solar powered system for the borehole was the primary focus, the mechanical pump is less convenient for the villagers but a much more sustainable method. Ideally we would be able to implement both into the same borehole this trip, but obtaining a functional solar pump is looking rather difficult at this time. The plans for a mechanical pump are underway.

Today in Yua we began preparation for the installation of the mechanical pump. To do this we needed to take down the east facing wall. We began by standing in front of the wall, curiously looking at it, heads tilting left and right. “How many days do you think it would take to get this down?” was questioned. One hour later, the Polytank was fully exposed, the rubble being carried away, and three tired men holding sledgehammers were breathing heavily nearby.

Patrick

Sonia a peace corps volunteer living in Sirigu met up with us in Yua today. She also joined us for dinner, and explained to us more about the unique area that is the upper east region of Ghana. We learned about Murango, a seeded plant in the area that is used to heal just about any ailment, how Shea butter is made, and many other interesting facts and stories.

Kate and I took another long walk through the village today as well, and it's strange how accustomed we've become to life here. Greeting people on the street, you're always asked the same questions “Where are you going?”, “How are you?”, “How is your body, are you strong?”. Replying in Fra Fra has become well ingrained, but as a team we are all trying to branch out to new response phrases. The time has begun to go by very fast, and it is unbelievable that our time in Yua is nearing it's end.

Anna

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With the plans for installing the manual pump underway, the drip team is working to have systems ready for when water is flowing again at the plaza. Today was another day of melting emitter-holes much to the begrime of Kate and I as the lighters we must use get extremely hot and are unreliable outside of a closed building. Despite our burned fingers we press on to finish one of our two systems soon.

James

Although we were not able to finish a full system today we have brought supplies to SWOPA and have set up a small system to troubleshoot tomorrow morning. Hopefully we won't encounter any problems and are able to build a fully functional system tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Max