Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Wednesday was another early morning as we packed the cars full of UNIVEN and UVA students and headed out to Tshapasha to begin our work. We were greeted by Tshilidzi (pronounced Chilidzi) and a pack of children giggling and shouting, “Makuwa! Makuwa!” (translated, “Whitey! Whitey!”). The first task on our list was to clean out all off the sand, gravel and water left harboring bacteria, a couple plants, and even some frogs inside the filter. While most of the team put on their work gloves and grabbed either a shovel or a bucket, Prof. Louis, Tshilidzi, Sid and “one makuwa” went to meet the town’s water committee to discuss the team’s plans. Six hours later, each filter compartment was cleaned out (with the exception of a frog or two), and we called it a day. After a quick group brainstorm back at Acacia and some grilled cheese sandwiches, we hit the hay, all of us sore in places we’d never felt before.

We arrived in Tshapasha again Thursday morning rejuvenated and with a recalculated plan of attack. The group split up into three teams, the first of which walked the village to log the locations of houses with standpipes and improved sanitation facilities. This team was composed of our most skilled Tshvenda speakers (a couple UNIVEN students and Dan), who spent the day meeting and talking to various people of Tshapasha. Jimmy, Ryan, and Thembi made up the second team. They took a string, a level, and a measuring tape and painstakingly measured the height drop from the filter and storage tanks to the lowest section of existing pipe. Finally, our third team (Ralph, Styles, Sid, Adam and Locke) stayed behind at the slow sand filter to wash out the piping and brainstorm solutions, a.k.a. dig up rock after rock after boulder. While we worked, some of the women from the village volunteered to make us a delicious meal of fried chicken and pap with a tomato and onion gravy. The suggested serving size for pap is two stomach-fulls, and a typical lunch includes three servings. On top of that, it’s rude in Tshvenda culture to leave anything on your plate. It’s fair to say work went a little slower that afternoon.
After coming to a good stopping point, we packed up and went down the road to Tshibvumo. There we met Chief Lucas who led us up a short trail to the breathtaking waterfall serving as the town’s water source. Over sixty years ago an impressive irrigation canal was built to carry water all the way from this point down to the village, making that part of our job that much easier. What a refreshing feeling that was -- almost as refreshing as the piercingly cold water pooling below the waterfall! Everyone took a much deserved break to wade into the water and clean off. It was a great reward after a long day.

The team took a half-day today to finish up the little bit left in our week’s tasks, leaving the weekend to regroup and formulate a decisive plan to complete our work in Tshapasha. As I write, we’re sitting around a campfire roasting s’mores and tossing back a couple “dumpies” (slang for bottles of beer). Neil Young and The Band sing from my laptop as a tribute to Canada Day. One member of the team, Daniel Saboe, has asked to write the blog post for today, and based on this makuwah’s experience in the village streets today, I think it’s only fair.