Things that happen in Vanuatu and nowhere else in the world

So, we hadn’t had water in two days. Not just us, but the entire village. This is sort of a problem. Not only is there no water to wash or cook, there also isn’t water to drink. It is coming into the hot season here, in a country that doesn’t have a cold season. Not having fresh water should be cause for concern.

I went for a walk on the road which is muddy, in the rain, which makes it muddier. I was filthy. Like seriously, I had four different people tell me I needed to go shower. I pointed out to my papa that I couldn’t shower because I didn’t have water. He said he thought someone had turned off the pipe, but he didn’t know how to turn it on. Instead, he helped me carry water from Jason’s papa’s house down the hill, to my house, on top of the hill.

On the way back up, we met my counterpart who helped carry the water. Eventually, he got around to asking why we were carrying water. My papa told him. He said he knew how to turn it back on, so after we got the water to the top of the hill, he offered to show my papa how to turn it on.

They were gone for less than five minutes. The water came back on. The water is controlled by a two valves, one ahead of the tank and one below the tank. Someone had turned off the pipe below the tank. We hadn’t had water in the entire village for two days because someone had turned off the pipe. Turning the pipe back on was not a complicated endeavor involving hiking the bush or fighting off monsters. The path goes straight to the tank and is relatively easy a path.

Only in Vanuatu.