Tom and Lois Wheeler have a hospital, bible school, wood shop, welding tree, and other services in a village called Ika. This morning we all loaded into the MOM van and headed there to help Tom dig a water well. Oh did I mention the well drilling capabilities?
The trip was uneventfull although Daniel seemed to stop and talk with ever passing vehicle on the Otutulu road. After we arrived Tom gave us a quick tour of the grounds while Lois prepared our lunch. On the tour Leonard, TJ, and I marveled at Tom's cool tools, generators, and diesel engines, while Chloe, Maddie, and Kendal admired pretty flowers and the baby goats. Might be a difference between boys and girls.
After our lunch we began loading up the truck for the trip to the villiage of Ojotu. The trip from Ika is only 7 miles or so but it took us over 2 hours. It had a whole lot to do with the downpour. I lost track of the number times we were stuck and had to be pulled out by the tractor. Leonard, Eric, Chloe, and Kendal spent this time rubbing orange clay on their faces and each other. Except for Julie, Kyla, and Laura we were all wet before we started and with all of the stops we were soaked.
By the time we got to Ojotu the rain had stopped but with everyong wet it was a little cold. Tom fixed that pretty quickly by having us dig a couple of pits for the drilling water tanks. From my perspective I think the group is worthless with a Nigerian spade, and poor at best with a shovel! One of Tom's crew dug more and faster than all of us combined.
It was pretty late in the day so we had to stop and head back after the drilling rig was set up. The ride back was better but there were still some sloppy spots whereTom's guys had to use the tractor to pull the truck. Leonard spent most of the return trip lounging on the crumpled up tarp until Ben (Tom's son) had a break down on his motorbike. That meant we had one more thing to jam into the back of the truck to join Eric, Kendal, Greg, and 3 of Tom's crew.
Well it is late and we get to do this again tomorrow. I better sleep. Pray there is no rain tomorrow in Ika, Nigeria!
Greg
Great update Greg... and it was nice to hear from you, even if the news you had to report was less than 100% positive. (But you told it like it was... road problems are part of life in Nigeria!)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting to learn that Leonard spent so much time "lounging"... why didn't someone put the man to work? ;-)
Looking forward to hearing y'all made it back to M.O.M. safe and sound!