Thieves and termites

Last night I woke up in the middle of a rain storm. I went to check on my collection system to see how well it was working, when I felt something bite my ankle. I moved my torch to my ankle to see a very large ant dangling from my skin. I quickly and almost fearfully swatted it from my leg when I noticed some more ants crawling across the floor, up the leg of the table and piled on top of the spoon that I had been using to stir my tea that evening. They were sugar ants, and I could not believe the amount that were there. I just prayed that they wouldn't climb the leg of my bed and attack me when I was sleeping. I climbed back into bed, and tucked my mosquito net in, then fell back asleep.

I feel a little dirty, and am becoming ripe because of the water being disconnected somewhere down the line. The water that I collected with my water bottle gutter, I saved for drinking for the children, and for cooking since those are two necessary items. I have suffered on the other hand with not bathing for the last few days. I have become used to bathing every day out of a bucket, but having no water makes even that a challenge. 

No words.

Mum Tabitha called me over to one of the homes; Home 8, Esther House. This house is empty at the moment. Mum Tabitha decided that it should be opened to allow some of the children to go inside where they can read under the solar lights, since they cant concentrate in their homes. Shortly after going in, it was reported back to Tabitha by one of the older boys that the lights were not working. After a closer look at the lighting system, all of the wires, battery, regulator, fuse, bus bar, almost everything was gone. The light bulbs, the fixtures, and the solar panel on the roof remained. I am puzzled. I asked how and when, yet no one seems to know anything. They said that the locks that they use are cheap, they are easily picked, and then replaced to look as though they were never opened. They handed me a lock, and I had to scoff.. It is little more than a tiny suitcase lock that you would expect to find on a new set of luggage. As I looked through the house, it also became shockingly obvious that there was a termite problem due to the giant termite mound that is forming right there in the middle of one of the rooms. I can not understand how things like these happen around here. To me it seems very simple to monitor all of these things, yet as an outsider looking in, it appears that they are trying to juggle several things in the air when they don't know how to juggle. I told Mum Tabitha to not buy cheap locks ever again, and I told Henry to get me some Termite and Ant pesticide when he went into town. The pest killer is 8,000 shillings ($3) per bottle. That is easily affordable. This makes me wonder what kind of accounting system do they have here? Is Tabitha given money to take care of small problems like this, or is each Mum responsible on their own? I cant do anything about the stolen property, but I will go into the house and tear down the mound. 

Henry finished off the tile for the faucet.

Just as I got my total water collection system rigged up, the sun came out, and the water came back on. I think I will dismantle it and move it to one of the other houses so that they can use it when the rain comes back. There were several men here when I walked back up to the house after checking on construction. They were from the water bureau. It seems that a water bill has been unpaid for some time and they were ready to switch off the water. We explained to them that it has been off for two days. I inquired about the amount of the bill, and for how long it has been unpaid. It was for 280,000 shillings ($107) and has been delinquent for 2 months. Again, my little red flag goes up concerning the accounting and accountability structure. Perhaps a great project would be to send a number of accountants to Uganda and help them setup an easy accounting system? This amount does not reflect the construction. Talking with Mum Lydia, she told me that the water bill will most likely reach somewhere in the 600,000 shilling ($230) range. I have no doubts this is true. 

I stood on top of the water tower today to take a nice picture of the wetlands wall. There is one small portion to finish on the green wall, and about half of the wetlands wall to construct. I do not see them finishing this today, but perhaps Henry will surprise me. Concrete is being mixed, mortar is being mixed, bricks are being moved, and strings are being adjusted. The gate columns will be poured today; if they are not I will just say the exact same thing tomorrow, so stay tuned.