4 women and a compound: Episode 2: "Heroes"

Our fearless leader pouring battery acid

Simon the mechanic:

He came first thing on Thursday morning...Character trait #1 of a hero: they show up when they say they will.  After our fearless leader, Bethany (aka Basin) climbed into White Bull (the Land Cruiser pick up truck used mainly for water projects with a large steel rack for carrying pipes and well, other water project type things) and confidently demonstrated the lack of movement in 1 of 4 wheels, he got right to work.  Inside eating breakfast, planning the day, Melissa would periodically go to the door to check the status of things, so far as she could tell from the door.  At one point she announced, “the wheel is off.”  That was about as much information as we could infer about the process.  Until, of course, he came to ask for the keys to try moving the vehicle again.  Bethany got back in and voila!  There it went, 4 of 4 wheels moving, reversing and then pulling forward back into it’s parking spot under the lulu tree.  A cheer rang out.  Simon informed us that one of the brake shoes had clamped shut due to rusting from lots of water exposure...either trepsing through rivers or just 3 weeks of stationary life s/p the onslaught of rain at the beginning of rainy season, whatever was the cause, White Bull needs new shoes.  Character trait #2 of a hero: not only do they fix the problem but they explain, in terms you can mostly understand, the cause of the problem, so that you can best report to the people who actually understand but don’t happen to be present.

Moving right along, Simon went from one vehicle to the next.  Confirming the need for a new battery for Brown Sugar (the tan-ish 2-door, 12-20 passenger Land Cruiser passenger vehicle), Simon got in his car and Bethany, accompanied by Melissa for moral support and encouragement (she’s super good at that), set out in the newly repaired White Bull for Mundri Town and battery purchasing.  It seemed like a while to me, but maybe there was a lot of discussion at the Mundri vehicle battery store about the white women who needed a new battery and how best to charge them for the most expensive one?  probably not with Simon around.  Character train #3 of a hero: instead of throwing you to the wolves and watching you flounder, they help you navigate the uncomfortable cultural situations in which people like you are not ordinarily treated with respect and get you a good product for a fair price.  Now, Simon’s next move was not Bethany’s favorite, but it worked out in the end and Simon managed to maintain hero status due to “confidence” in their competence.  After the purchase of the appropriate battery, Simon, much like John had done over the phone, proceeded to give Bethany and Melissa relatively vague-ish instructions on how to pour the 6 bottles of battery acid into the 6 ports on the battery without splashing it onto their skin and then where to leave the battery until it was ready to be put into the vehicle...

Donning our safety goggles (as noted in the photo above - in the words of one of her blog comments, "who wouldn't want a girl who can pour acid into batteries!" :) - after all “safety first!” - we took turns with the acid pouring, if one of us is gonna die, we’re all going down together.  As we pour, carefully inspecting the warning symbols on the battery casing...and there are quite a few...the most concerning a symbol clearly indicating the possibility of explosion...what might possibly cause the explosion we haven’t the foggiest of ideas, so we just kept at the acid pouring until all 6 bottles were empty and all 6 ports seemed full to the brim.   Leaving the battery in the sun for 4 hours were Simon’s instructions, at the end of those 4 hours he would return to replace the battery into the vehicle, which, of course, he did, because he’s a hero and hero’s show up when they say they will (refer to hero character trait #1).
He replaced the battery under the watchful eyes of Bethany and Melissa and as I worked in our house, we heard the purr of the diesel engine starting up and the 2nd cheer for the day rang out around the compound.  Wow.  Simon was 2 for 2 in less than 24 hours.  Well done.   Problems 3 and 6 solved.

Michael Masso:

Now, I will tell you that before he knew Simon was saving the day, the ever helpful Michael Masso playing his supporting role from the US of A, wrote a few emails trying to help us figure out what White Bull’s problem was.  It was in these emails that he wrote the following descriptions of the identifying sounds we should be listening for when attempting to drive White Bull in any direction:

..."really loud cracking noise"
 ...... "horrific grinding noise"...

I can tell you that neither sound description made me eager to give it a whirl and see what might happen...really loud cracking OR horrific grinding...no thank you, but character trait #4 of a hero: despite distance tries their best to help as best they can, again, explaining things in terms that you might be able to understand, and trying to give you concrete things to try yourself to solve the problem at hand.  Cracking and grinding are terms I can understand, or at least imagine.  Thanks Michael.

David the contractor:

So, despite Simon’s heroic mechanic-ing, problem #7 is also still outstanding, the power  in the strip of church/WHM offices is out in all but one office.  Starting on Friday, Bethany starts to try to find David, the Ugandan contractor who oversaw the building of most of the buildings on our team’s compound here in Miri Moto.  The thought was that since he’s builds houses that then have solar power put in them, maybe he knows of a good “power guy.”   Now, trying to find him looks like asking people she knows if they’ve seen him or have a phone number for him.  One way or another, she manages to track him down and on Monday afternoon gets him to come assess the situation.  Without giving her much confidence that he knew anything about electrical systems, he briefly looked around and then we she asked for his assessment he indicated he would return today with his “technician.”

First thing this morning,  David hollers outside Bethany’s house hoping to find her inside.  He does and proving himself also capable of showing up when he says he will, begins making his way to hero status (character trait #1).  He confirms his hero status not an hour later when he hollers again outside Bethany’s house for her to come here his report.  She came quickly, eagerly awaiting the damage...I’m not actually sure what he said the problem was (out of earshot of where I sat at my desk) but whatever it was it was solved, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t charge her anything for their services.  Character trait #5 of a hero: surprises you with their first rate integrity despite the opportunity to milk a situation for all it’s worth.  Wuh hoo! Problem #7 solved.

Abao Janet:

Now, maybe you’ll remember that this leaves problems 4 and 5 outstanding.  2 out of 7 is not bad, I must say.  Problem #5 was the friend who misses cultural cues and the possibility that you have gravely offended said friend by refusing to entertain her cultural cues.  Friday morning, the day after my grievous offense, I went next door to Bishop’s house on my way to the office to check email, hoping to get an idea from Rina as to what time she wanted to leave for the training we were doing that day.  I greeted her at her back door and soon, from inside the house, I hear “Aidah! Ita ayaan?  Ita numu kweis?”  “Heidi, are you sick? did you sleep well?”  It was sweet Abao, the friend I’d greeted with monosyllabic groans and closed eyes the morning before.  She greeted me sweetly, albeit understandably not quite as eagerly as the morning before, and we laughed about how rude I’d been.  I asked about her family, about Mundri, she asked about my mom, my sister’s wedding...welcome back.  Character trait #6 of a hero: they give you another chance (even when their first name means “refuse”) when you really don’t deserve one   Problem #5: solved with grace.

Now, problem #4: critters.  This problem still has a hero vacancy.  In fact, this is the only problem that maybe got even more ridiculous after the first episode.  I think I posted the last post on wednesday afternoon/night.  On Thursday, towards the end of their trip through Spain, the lovely Ashley Watson commented on the tendency of skinks to meet their maker under my mattress, in a loving/joking manner of course.  Well, thursday was the 2 for 2 vehicle day and the Abao offense day, so when I went to bed around 10pm I was tired.  Too tired, in fact, to investigate at all in the dead critter smell I picked up near the head of my bed as I drifted off...Friday morning, I’m running around trying to get to a training on time, but on a quick trip into my room, I’m sure I’ve smelled the awful smell of the squished skink.  Melissa came to bolster my courage and helped me by lifting up my mattress...there is was, dead skink under the mattress #2!!!!!  You’ve got to be kidding me!  bleach, mattress in the sun, new sheets, a new mosquito net...but the critter problem goes on...

BUT today, Tuesday, the power problem was solved, the internet was speedy, and my overdue reimbursement requests were on the to-do list...and whadda ya know, without ANY issues, I got all of them sent without 1 bad word!  Record setting.  So, whoever it is that’s praying for our sanity here on the compound, do keep it up, we’re on a roll!!!!