The Saw!

Melodious overtones from church bell towers toll throughout valleys all over the globe as a symbol of joy or perhaps a reminder that God is present. In any case, any bell player should know where the sound of the bell is made. It's not the bottom or the top, it's the sides that vibrate and produce the vast majority of a bell's sound. Such vibrations are not limited to a bell. Last week, I got out the sawzall for a little demolition. A long abandoned water tank needed to relocate but was too bulky and heavy to pass through the gate. Eager to get onto other aspects of the destruction, I tackled the 2000 liter tank. Putting the blade to the edge, I squeezed the trigger and promptly regretted it. The cylindrical drum resonated, producing so much noise a 13 year old's stereo would seem whisper quiet by comparison. But since the tank wasn't going to mutilate itself, I trudged forth. Thankfully, the saw sliced through the thin corrugated sheet metal effortlessly, and within no time, I was cutting below the waterline, providing some much sought relief to my senses.

This wasn't the only project of late. My boss Wes and I installed some ethernet bridges (so we have internet at the house [due to a housing shortage, I am staying with Wes, wife Chrislyn, and kids Kaiza and Andrew]), did some ethernet wiring, cleaned out part of the guesthouse to convert space into more guestrooms, repiped around the community water tank, and installed water meters just to name a few. The first two and a half days I was here, Wes and I worked in Zambia at Mwami Adventist Hospital. There, we joined and laid about a kilometer of pipe from the storage tank to the hospital. I mapped out the village with GPS. We also checked and rewired some of the borehole pumps. Just to differentiate, an open shaft where water is drawn by a bucket is called a well. A borehole is a pump-driven, pipe-encased "well", which provides for the water system. At Mwami and most of the hospitals around, the system always leaks, and repairs are never proper or permanent. Because of this, as well as some other reasons, a new water system is actually cheaper, and, if properly built, will last far longer.

Very few of us would agree that air pollution is beneficial to humans, in most cases at least. Also, very few of us would disagree that Americans use a disproportionate amount of the planet's resources. However, don't think for a second the air on my side of the globe is better than your air. The solution to most problems here fall into three categories: a bigger hammer, a bigger wrench, and a bigger fire. All leaves, garbage, and even fields are burned to remove whatever it is. Yes, the land becomes infertile and yes, I do almost constantly smell of smoke, but that's simply how things are done. This means the air is always stank nasty. But, airborne particulate matter, particularly pollution, makes for some amazing sunsets. This past Sabbath, the sun didn't set on the horizon, it set on the layer of haze, disappearing in a cloudless sky before sunset. Odd? I thought so. Watch out SoCal, your smog has some competition!

This week, another family is coming to Malamulo! The Haytons should arrive Wednesday, with a welcoming potluck this weekend. Last week, some short-termers from Loma Linda arrived to construct a computer lab in the health college's library. Their stint here is between 2 and 3 weeks. In other news, it's hot here and will probably get warmer. The dry season ends about late November/early December. Between now and then, it's supposed to warm up even more. Right now, daily highs are in the mid to high 80s with about 30% humidity and absolutely no cloud cover.