Aug 2
Our “Can of Worms”...Water Tanks

Water tanks are a “hot item” here. We know how dependent we are on our running water in our houses. Here, if you are lucky, you have or live by a neighbor who shares their water tank. Otherwise, you head to the river, to wash your clothes, bathe in, play in, and then haul water back to your house. So water supply is pretty important. I just never imagined how much time it takes to take care of our basic needs without water. We had known that the missionary couple before us had delivered some water tanks and thought that was great. But now we fill like it is a “can of worms” for us.

First of all, the church will supply a water tank but it is for a community, not a single person. And some of the members are becoming possessive and are not allowing their neighbors to use their water. And then, several of the tanks that were delivered were not installed (putting a cinder block base under them and a tap) so there are tanks that are sitting empty. What a waste! And the rainy season is coming. Now enter The Sanders, the new missionary couple on the block that are in charge of self-reliance. And viola, what do we get? Requests for water tanks!!!!! So today, Lynn was just asking how much cement and wire he needed to finish up a tank and found out there was another tank just sitting needing to be finished. And the District President has asked us about getting 8 water tanks to Auki, which is a branch on another island.

Feelings are running high over this. Nesta (one of the grounds people here) says that she prays for no rain so the people with tanks won't have any water. A branch president mentioned that the tanks weren't evenly distributed and feels his neighborhood should have one. On the island of Malaita, the Faubua branch received several tanks so the Auki branch feels they should have some. What a mess. So we are going to try to get the materials to finish the initial tanks that are just sitting and letting the branch finish the work. And then we need to find out where there are tanks in each branch and figure out the best area for a tank. But really we aren't supposed to be involved in it at all. Somehow, we need to stress the community idea and have them “write up a proposal” and go from there. We don't even know what the fund or budget is for this. So we have to get information from New Zealand. What a “can of worms or I mean tanks”.

foundation 3 rows cinderblock, cement top

water tank to be placed on foundation

finished tank...pipes for water to drain into tank

Another “Can of Worms”...Wheelchairs

The missionary couple before us was able to order 300 wheelchairs and helped distribute them. So last week, we had someone say that they needed a wheelchair for a member. What???? We asked about it and were told to say,

“The Church will supply the wheelchairs to the hospital. The hospital then distributes them. No one gets special treatment because they are a member of the church.”

That is pretty easy to close that “can of worms.”

The water tanks and wheelchairs were great projects but it seems the people feel entitled to them. Thank goodness we have a self-reliance committee that will help with some of the decisions with these things.