A Water Tank for the Village

It's been weeks since I've posted on the blog about our trip. Life sometimes gets away from you. With several writing projects in the works, I've delayed posting another story from our trip to Papua New Guinea.

Three days after our arrival on a Friday, we began the process of installing a new water tank for the village. They were thrilled to be getting a new one. All the ones which we had installed in the 80s were rusted out and no longer useable. Dale's repair on the church's tank in 2009 had not lasted with continued corrosion . It had been several years since they had the luxury of clean drinking water close to them. Walking at least 20 minutes to a  small trickle of a stream, they went each morning to obtain clean drinking water—difficult when you have to lug the filled ones home through the bush.

The original water tank on the church building installed over 25 years before.

In 2009, Dale tried to repair the tank's pin holes by putting on a putty that hardened like cement on the inside and out.

Small holes that rusted through the tank's walls making it useless.

Monday was a big day for them.

All the men assembled at the house to get ready to work. First job was to get soap and wash out the inside of the tank, rinse it out with clean river water, and carry it up to the first village. Children ran up, too, to watch the process.

There was excitement over the arrival of the new water tank.

Once it was carried to the village, Dale and several men set to work re-creating the new tank stand. Pulling out a few rotten posts and planting new posts was first. Since the previous tank had a larger base, the stand needed to be adjusted to fit the smaller tank size. (The previous tank was 1000 gallons; this tank was only 250 gallons —quite a bit smaller).  It was a different style, expensive, and the largest that would fit on the plane.

Carrying the tank up to the village.

The chainsaw we purchased helped the job go much faster. I'm sure the roar brought back many memories of previous years as they watched Dale work the saw.

"Dui," parents yelled at children as soon as they heard the engine start. ("Go!").

Replacing some of the old posts with new ones and adjusting the size of the stand for the new tank. We bought a chainsaw to help with several of the station projects.

Adding new wood to create a study stand.

Iron is placed on top of the stand to create a base. Mode was one of Dale's main helpers.

By noon most of the new stand was ready. After lunch the tank was placed on the stand, the water guttering was repaired and adjusted, and the lid was placed on top. Unfortunately, the water tap didn't get on the plane, so a wooden plug was created to hold water inside if it rained.

Repairing the gutter.

Adjusting the overflow spout.

Fixing and adjusting the length of the spout which directs the flow of water into the tank.

Now, all that we needed was rain!

Everyone sat around to watch the tank get installed. One of the men came up to Dale and said months earlier that a few of the men were walking through another area when they saw one of the new plastic green tanks.

"We wished we had one of those," they said to one another. "That would be nice to have in our village."

Now they had one—thanks to the generosity of so many who supported the project.

It didn't take long for a rain to come and fill up the tank. The iron roof on the church catches rainwater, and runs down the gutters directing the flow into the tank. However,  a screened overflow spout which was held by one of the men didn’t get installed quickly enough. After a few days of fetching fresh water, a few eyebrows were raised at the funny tasting water. A quick look inside revealed that a frog had found its way into the tank, drowned and started to decompose! So—the tank was drained, washed again, and we all waited for another good rain! This time the screened overflow spout was installed to be sure and keep critters away.

Here, we take the simple things in life for granted. Clean, pure, drinking water runs from our faucet every day, yet something so necessary for life in many places is not easy to obtain. Just as many have no gospel witness in the far reaches of the world, we have churches in every city—a plethora from which to choose which one suits us best.

I am thankful that this little tribe still in the middle of a remote jungle location not only has a gospel witness but knowledge of the One who gives us "Living water." It was a joy to see their excitement over something so simple as the provision of clean water for the village.

What a privilege.

"If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water," (John 4:10 NIV).

(C) 2014 Carin LeRoy. All rights reserved.