“…and great was its fall”

Last week Marc was in Nairobi with some folks who are here for a short-term missions trip. He wasn’t even gone a day before the excitement began. On Monday night the torrential rains arrived, and although I really like rain at night, I was kinda scared. Even so, I was glad to know that our water storage tank was filling up (see photo here). But when I heard a crash outside my window at 4 AM, I knew it couldn’t be good.

When the tank was installed, Marc (who is a pretty good engineer) expressed concern that the platform was being build directly on the dirt. Of course, it should have concrete footings, right? But he was assured, no, it would be fine. Not being familiar with the soils here and how things are normally done, the work proceeded. And here is what happened:

I was reminded of Jesus’ teaching:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Matthew 7:24-27

It was comforting to hear a giant crash outside my window, look outside, and almost immediately see flashlights peering into our yard from two of our neighbors, who wanted to make sure all was well. Then we began to hear whistling along the path out front (folks walking by and getting each others’ attention) with a flurry of muted conversation including just a few words I recognized: maji (water), pipa (tank) and of course, wazungu (white people). Even though it was pitch black outside still, we were already the talk of the community.

As soon as I stepped outside in the morning (around 6:30 when it got light enough), our neighbor arrived and asked how he could be of service in remedying the problem, since Mr. Marc was not at home. Of course, I had already talked to Marc and had some marching orders so we made a plan of action. Isaiah, who had helped his dad with all the phases of the installation project and is a pretty take-charge kind of kid (even at almost-13) was also involved.

Later in the morning, our neighbor returned and said he could not find a direct replacement tank; only 1,000 L (too small) or 2,300 L (too large) were available. Isaiah went with him into town to do some shopping, confident that he would be able to acquire the 1,500 L at a decent price. And he did. Meanwhile, our other neighbor and his brother were busy digging in preparation for putting down a pad for the re-build.

By the second day the concrete was dry, the gutters repaired where needed, and the tank replaced. However, it was raining too hard to get it fully functional, so it was left for the third day. Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough rain once it was set up to get water but our neighbors invited us to fill up from their rainwater collection. Very important, as by weeks’ end the short-term missions group had arrived and our water needs were multiplying. Praise God we’ve got everything up and running!