Day 10 - Finishing Touches

The day began with a trip to a market in Arusha as the boys were very keen to experience an African market. They arrived before the crowds built up and by all accounts the shopping trip was a success.

There was much excitement at lunch as a snake (possibly a Black Mamba although the jury is out) was spotted by some boys in grounds of the hotel. Boys being boys (of all ages!) everyone left the dinner table to see for themselves. The snake had made a strategic withdrawal and the only evidence were a few photos taken by those first witnesses.

This being the penultimate day, most of the jobs that had to be done were small but crucial. The solar panels that were now on the roof needed to be permanently connected to the control box. A job that had only taken a few minutes to do each day temporarily took a few hours to complete when all the wires had to be pushes through their final routes. The boys did this almost entirely on their own and with the light fading we were able to pump water for a few minutes before the power dropped off too much. There are still one or two minor things to finish this job off tomorrow but for the most part it is now completed. Unfortunately, although we were able to pump water into a temporary tank for the last few days the process of moving the solar panels and the water tanks to their final positions had meant that we couldn’t keep the tanks topped up over the last two days. (It’s also been a bit cloudy and even rained!) The tanks should be full again tomorrow.

The other significant job was to connect the inlet and outlet pipes to the tanks and connect them together. It’s crucial that we do this as soon as we can so that we can test the remainder of the plumbing system and fix any (probably numerous) leaks! This is quite a tricky task to undertake as all the tanks are now 2.5 in the air, and the larger one is 3m tall itself. Someone had to get inside the tank to secure the fittings and there was great amusement as Mr Griffiths volunteered for the task. There had been lots of discussion the night before as to how he might be able to get out again. In the end a bucket and brute force allowed him to pull himself out, although we all favoured filling the tank with water and floating him out! There are still a couple of valves that are needed to complete this task but it should all be done relatively soon tomorrow. As the solar pump is permanently connected now we hope that by the time we get there tomorrow morning it will already be pumping – fingers crossed.

Work continued on the drainage ditch at the back of the orphanage and this is now half full of the aggregate that will allow the water to dissipate effectively. A tap was also installed back here for the local community to use to fill their buckets. The site was chosen very carefully, in consultation with the director of the orphanage, so as to allow access whilst keeping them distant from the children.

As the jobs thinned out towards the end of the day the boys could all be found playing all manner of games with the children and a few even tried skipping!