Water Rights

Common sight- spigot left running

I teach a class in the next town over.  The classroom is found right in the middle of the old part of town.  The taxi drops me at the main street and then I wind my way through narrow alleyways.  I pass the old men at the old mosque and greet them, and then work my way around the old walls made in the old style with rocks and coral mortar rather than the cinder blocks of cement that are the preferred building material of today.  The classroom itself is on the second floor of a large building that faces the open plaza in the middle of the old town.
Surrounded by crumbling buildings, the plaza is not well kept and more closely resembles a vacant lot than a public meeting space, but it serves that purpose when necessary.

Normally there are a few boys playing football or toddlers pushing toy cars around in the dust, but this time I stumbled upon a large gathering.  Mats had been set out and the plaza was full of people sitting on the ground listening to an energetic speaker making his points by slapping the back of one hand into the palm of the other hand.  Off to the right, the first floor of the building where my class is held stood with doors wide-open revealing a large unadorned room except for the many mats on the floor.  The room was filling with women preparing to pray and sing.

Carefully aiming my way through the crowd, I went and spoke to the lady who owns the shop by the classroom.  (We regularly talk before class.)
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“They’re making a prayer to protest the water.”
“Water?”
“Yes, the water project.  They came and did a water project and now we have to pay for water.  It’s horrible!...” Her indignation carried on for a minute or two.  I smiled politely, but inside I was applauding the water project.

Before the water project, the people of that town had horrible water shortages.  I remember because we had teammates living not far from there and the problem was acute.  Not only that, but the water project meant their water was now being treated.  They could drink it now without fear of sickness (not that this really concerned them before but typhoid has been a regular problem on this island for years).   But my greatest HUZZAH was for the fact that paying for water might actually make people appreciate its value.  In fact, this whole angry prayer was a testament to that fact.  Water costs something and it’s time they came to realize it.

Tom's solution: Stopping hose with a stick

Unfortunately, our town has no water project.  Water shortages are still regular.  The water out of the tap is often brown and many people still get sick.  But most aggravating to me is the constant waste.  For example, at our office we share the bathroom with the landlord.  Every time I enter the bathroom, there is a spigot that is on full blast, wasting water, just letting it run down the drain.  Every time I turn it off.  No one notices, because they simply don’t care.  Off, on, it doesn’t cost them anything. 

Our house is at the bottom of the hill.  We are the last to get water which means we often don’t.  A few weeks ago they were doing construction work on the neighboring house.  They had installed a hose with no spigot.  We went a few days with absolutely no water until I realized the problem was the hose just pouring water nonstop onto the ground.  I stuck a piece of wood into the end of the hose and suddenly the water returned to our house.  The following days I would repeat this game, looking for new sticks each time as the workers did not see the necessity of hanging onto that stick or stopping the flow of water at the end of their work. 
We don’t realize how precious something is until it costs us.  That is true of so many things in life.  I can hardly blame my island neighbors for their shock, but sometimes a shock helps us wake up to what is really important. Water is important. Let’s hope the water project moves to our town next!

Kids ready to welcome Tom home from trip

PRAYERS ANSWERED
The team has jumped back into life here again. We are thankful for two different women who have recently started studying with a teammate— one is a longtime friend who just started to show interest. It is encouraging for the whole team. Former neighbors who are also colleagues from the small island are on our island for business. It has been nice to reconnect with them and hear about their hopes for the future. It has also been fun for our kids to have their son around to play with. We’ve had multiple opportunities to be generous and speak God’s blessing over people.

PRAYERS REQUESTED 
This week is the last week of the month of fasting, which ends with the biggest holiday of the year. It is believed by islanders that one night this week is a special night of power when God hears and answers people's requests (most likely Tuesday night). Pray with us for all the islanders calling out to God on this night, that they would find Him and find truth. On the holiday, everyone goes out in the morning and greets their friends and neighbors. It is a great opportunity to connect with our communities—pray we could make the most of the holiday and have many opportunities to share. Our kids are in the middle of their end of the year exams— pray that they can remember all that they have learned and not be too stressed about it. We have less than two weeks on the islands before we leave for some vacation— pray that we would get everything done on our to-do list in that time! We just realized that Tom’s passport (though still valid for almost 2 more years) is almost completely full. This means he has to get it renewed— pray that the logistics of doing that would not be difficult. Pray for us as leaders as we sometimes have to make difficult decisions and have tough conversations. Pray for wisdom.