And we keep going

Woke up one morning and Wilfred told us the truck had a flat tire. Had someone come to change it and Wilfred said we can head out into the field if we put the flat where the spare is because it is illegal to travel without a spare. I didn’t think that was a great idea as if we got another flat out in the field we wouldn’t have a spare that was any good. The guy said it would take about 20 minutes to patch. We can wait (or do our lunch shopping in the mean time). 

Two days later, Tom and Mr Khosa, are at our hotel laughing about how good it is they showed up since we have a flat tire. Guess our spare wasn’t that great though it did last 2 days. That also being said, neither of them changed the tire. 

As we finished a dedication and we’re headdd back to the truck a man came up to me and identified himself as a headman algo a nearby village. He said that we had come the other year and installed a well there and he just wanted to say thank you again. He was very glad that we were back and installing here. He pointed at our builder and field officer and told me that those guys are good workers. Very helpful. And he did it in English. 

The police blocks haven’t gotten less frequent but we haven’t gotten stopped nearly as often. Usually we are waved through which is lovely. Of course one more officer wanted to check my reverse lights and brake lights. I’ll admit to not having checked and so was relieved that we passed and we’re able to continue on to our wells. 

One village told me, ‘We stopped believing you were coming. We got calls on 2 days saying you would be coming and yet you didn’t make it. But now today, the third time. It has become a reality’. That is hard for me to hear and yet their thanksgiving is real. We call up all the villages we hope to make it to in the day but often distances are farther, installations are trickier, the sun heads down too soon and we miss some villages. It has been nice this year to still be in the same area for the duration and I have gotten to those villages that really have been waiting (they are all waiting…)