Monday May 1, 2017

We met the Gredings at their hotel at 9:30 a.m. We spent all morning visiting sites in the grafton/waterloo area. We visited Kobba Farm where we have a hand-dug borehole going in, then the 5/5 school where we put in a hand-dug well a few months ago. Elder Greding was disturbed at what we found. The well is just fine but they are not collecting money for the water so they will not be able to maintain the well. They tried convincing us they are collecting money but they have a 14 year old illiterate girl

"collecting" money and she was no where around. Someone rounded her up and she said she collects 1,000 Leones per jeri can. But there were 12 people their to fetch water and many of them had multiple cans. She did not collect from any of them. Elder

Greding asked two of them if they brought money to pay for water. They said "no". He asked Brother Stephens when he collects the money from the young girl. He said,"once a week on Mondays". That is ridiculous. Thievery is so bad here you would never leave a weeks' worth of collections with a young girl who has no where to keep anything safe. Elder Greding came down hard on Brother Stephens and reiterated everything we have been telling him. If they do not start collecting for water, this Well will be spoiled. We are going to work hard with Brother Stephens and Mrs. Scott on getting them to collect money. From here we went to the PVA and watched them on the construction of the 7-stall toilet and 2 showers. Bai Sesay was not there. He had gone to get some things they needed for the project. Elder Greding checked the concrete work and it was good. He did not like seeing the mortar they were using sitting out in the hot sun drying out. Apparently, the drier the mortar gets the more it loses it strength. He told the men to mix a little water with it. When President Sesay

arrived, Don asked him about the mortar. President Sesay said exactly what Elder Greding had said and pointed to the pile of mortar and said "it is finished". Elder Greding was very pleased with President Sesay's answers to all the questions and later

told Don that He has found a contractor he can work with when Don and I go home.

From here we went to the War Wounded School to show Elder Greding the ramps and sanitation facility we constructed there. Again, President Sesay did the work and Elder Greding pronounced it "good". On our way to our next site, we stopped at our favorite chicken place and had lunch. Then we hiked to the Hill Top site, which is not on the hill top. We have to hike down a very steep and treacherous path that Don has fallen down many times. We all made it down safely. Sister Greding and I decided after about half an hour to head back up before our husbands because we are much slower than they are. For some reason, I kept trying to fall over to the right and she kept trying to fall backward. We held hands and slowly picked our way back up the hill. She would

keep me from falling sideways and I kept her from falling backwards. Two old white women! What a hoot! It took us forever to get to the truck and were there only a few minutes before our husbands popped up. Then we hiked down to Boundary 1, level 1

and level 2 and the hand-dug well. We had to hike over boulders and down slippery rocky paths and across what is called a bridge but is anything but a bridge and it is a long way down. We spent about an hour at these 3 places and then hiked back up the mountain. We were all huffing and puffing. What a day. We went back to the hotel with the Gredings and ate dinner with them. We are all tired!