Water. It is pretty hard to run a camp without it. In fact you can’t run a camp without it. We know, we tried! Not intentionally of course. We simply found out one afternoon that there was no water. The cistern had run dry! Now this is a big cistern. I’m not sure how much it holds but it must be in the neighborhood of 6000 gallons. So we got a little worried as there were approximately 30 people here at the end of training week and we were expecting around 150 to arrive for camp the following day! It would be no fun if there was no water.
Of course there were a number of different theories going around as to why the water was off. Our neighbor, Maximo claimed to have heard on the radio that there would be a cut from 8 until 6 that day to repair the line. His drinking buddy was sure that it was because the neighboring town of Posorja had not paid its bill and they had cut the water supply to them for a day to teach them a lesson. The bottled water guys were confident that it was because the water at the plant was coming out of the plant yellow and that they had cut the supply to the entire area until the problem was solved. We decided that the first theory was most likely and decided to wait it until 6 and see if it came back as predicted because we did have enough water to get us through the night in our back up water tower.
Monday morning arrived and checking the cistern I found out that there was still no water. Now it was time to spring into action. I drove into town and found out that the answer to our original question was “none of the above.” There had been no water cut, no problems with Posorja and the water and the plant had not been coming out yellow or any other color of the rainbow so the problem was obviously with our line. I requisitioned a work crew to come out and fix the problem and they were there shortly after 9. Wow, that was fast! I had also ordered a water truck to come out but by the time they got there the workers had cleaned out what appeared to be a blockage in the line and we were back in business. So I gave the water truck driver something for his trouble and cancelled the delivery. Big mistake! The campers arrived later that morning and I assumed that all was well until about 5 at night when the cry went up again. No water! It turns out that the flow of water into the cistern had slowed to something between a trickle and a stream but that any way you looked at it the water was going out faster than it was coming in.
I managed to get another tanker truck delivery and really needed more but because it was too late in the day and the tanker truck had no lights it couldn’t be out at night which, although frustrating did seem to be reasonable. As it stands today, Friday we still have nothing more than something between a trickle and a steady stream, the city workers have not come again as asked and we have averaged two tanker trucks of water delivered each day. For those of you who like to do the math, that is 4000 gallons a day for a total cost of $40 a day which works out at about $1 every hundred gallons. It doesn’t sound like much but that is what is standing in the way of us having a pretty miserable bunch of campers this week.
In other news, we have a great team of Canadians from Halifax, Nova Scotia working alongside the Ecuadorian leaders this week and they are in their element because today is Canada Day! Well, Canada Day at camp that is. The Canadians have been running games, teaching the kids to play ice hockey without ice, and helping them to decorate around a gazillion pillow cases that the kids get to take home with them. Their final act for the day will be to make a Canadian style snack before bedtime. I am anxious to find out what it will be but they are keeping a pretty tight lid on it for the moment.
Verse for the day:
Revelation 7:15-17
“Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Ecuador can be a hot country and so this verse takes on special meaning, especially when you are without water. But we have a marvelous future ahead of us when we will no longer have any water worries – or any worries for that matter!
Of course there were a number of different theories going around as to why the water was off. Our neighbor, Maximo claimed to have heard on the radio that there would be a cut from 8 until 6 that day to repair the line. His drinking buddy was sure that it was because the neighboring town of Posorja had not paid its bill and they had cut the water supply to them for a day to teach them a lesson. The bottled water guys were confident that it was because the water at the plant was coming out of the plant yellow and that they had cut the supply to the entire area until the problem was solved. We decided that the first theory was most likely and decided to wait it until 6 and see if it came back as predicted because we did have enough water to get us through the night in our back up water tower.
Monday morning arrived and checking the cistern I found out that there was still no water. Now it was time to spring into action. I drove into town and found out that the answer to our original question was “none of the above.” There had been no water cut, no problems with Posorja and the water and the plant had not been coming out yellow or any other color of the rainbow so the problem was obviously with our line. I requisitioned a work crew to come out and fix the problem and they were there shortly after 9. Wow, that was fast! I had also ordered a water truck to come out but by the time they got there the workers had cleaned out what appeared to be a blockage in the line and we were back in business. So I gave the water truck driver something for his trouble and cancelled the delivery. Big mistake! The campers arrived later that morning and I assumed that all was well until about 5 at night when the cry went up again. No water! It turns out that the flow of water into the cistern had slowed to something between a trickle and a stream but that any way you looked at it the water was going out faster than it was coming in.
I managed to get another tanker truck delivery and really needed more but because it was too late in the day and the tanker truck had no lights it couldn’t be out at night which, although frustrating did seem to be reasonable. As it stands today, Friday we still have nothing more than something between a trickle and a steady stream, the city workers have not come again as asked and we have averaged two tanker trucks of water delivered each day. For those of you who like to do the math, that is 4000 gallons a day for a total cost of $40 a day which works out at about $1 every hundred gallons. It doesn’t sound like much but that is what is standing in the way of us having a pretty miserable bunch of campers this week.
In other news, we have a great team of Canadians from Halifax, Nova Scotia working alongside the Ecuadorian leaders this week and they are in their element because today is Canada Day! Well, Canada Day at camp that is. The Canadians have been running games, teaching the kids to play ice hockey without ice, and helping them to decorate around a gazillion pillow cases that the kids get to take home with them. Their final act for the day will be to make a Canadian style snack before bedtime. I am anxious to find out what it will be but they are keeping a pretty tight lid on it for the moment.
Verse for the day:
Revelation 7:15-17
“Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Ecuador can be a hot country and so this verse takes on special meaning, especially when you are without water. But we have a marvelous future ahead of us when we will no longer have any water worries – or any worries for that matter!
The Water Truck Dumps its Load
2 comments:
So what did the Canada Day Snack turn out to be? When the first work crews made that huge underground cistern, it looked awfully big to me. But I guess 6000 gallons is a lot of water..and goodness knows, Guayaquilenians love to be clean!!
Guess what. We're having yet ANOTHER snow storm!! March 25th! Actually I still enjoy it tremendously. And I may be the only one in Ontario who is. I've waited 15 years to enjoy a white Christmas...and Christmas in March is just fine for me. No presents to have to wrap either!!
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