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December 13, 2006

A Trip to the Pump

While in Deou with Pastor Samuel who works there, I followed his children one evening to the pump to get water.

Deou has a lack of water. There used to be a natural spring there but now it has dried up. Around town there are several pumps sitting idle that no longer give water. The good pumps that do work are of course swamped with people. It is now cold season, so it is not so bad, but Samuel was saying that in hot season, fights break out over who is next in line, and you can be waiting all night to get your turn.

Usually he would send his boys with the donkey and cart, but his donkey died recently, so it was up to the lads to take the place of the donkey too. They made a game of it, but it was no small job – and of course the cart would be a lot heavier on the way home.

After a fifteen minute trek out of town, and one large thorn which went straight through my sandal and painfully into my foot, we got to the pump. Fortunately on this occasion, there weren’t too many people waiting, although there was still quite a pile of yellow plastic canisters waiting to be filled. The moon was already up, and the evening disappearing when we got there.

Young boys were pumping strenuously to keep the water flowing, with a little brother struggling to swap the canisters over when one filled up, each time the older boys haranguing him for being so slow or inattentive. Other boys sat on the wall waiting their turn. It was beginning to turn cold – pleasantly so for me, but less comfortable for the boys.

After half an hour, I limped my way (carefully) back, leaving the boys there – it looked like they would be an hour or two yet…

Tags: burkina faso africa burkina deou water pump sahel

Posted by Keith at December 13, 2006 08:31 PM