On Top Of It All

We started out this morning loading a hired truck to take the food supplies we packed last night to Olosheki.  That and several bags of cement.  As long as a truck was going out there, may as well fill it up.

We took off for the hour-long trip to Olosheki.  I could almost drive the route myself now as we have taken it twice a day for the last few days, however, the frequent rain erases yesterday’s tracks and replaces them with ever deeper ruts and puddles, and part of the road wanders across several open areas with no apparent plan or direction, so perhaps I would get lost anyway.

The top of the tower needed to be finished before the water tank was hoisted up there, which involved a lot of welding.  So I spent nearly the entire day perched on top of the tower, first installing steel floor joists, then the floor itself, then the safety railings around the top.

We have spent the last few days puzzling over just how to get a 10,000 liter tank to the top of this tower once it is ready.  Today we fashioned a crane or derrick of sorts out of pieces of the scaffolding that was used to raise the tower.  The plan was to extend out over the side and use a block and tackle to raise the tank high enough to swing over onto the tower.

Pretty cool design, however the parts just weren’t up to the task.  It took a while to get all the clamps and pipes in place and to figure out how to attach the whole business to the tower.  When the time finally came to test it, we began pulling on the rope.  The tank didn’t budge, but the boom of the crane bent significantly.  It just was not going to handle the weight of the tank.

Dave had considered hiring a crane, but it was doubtful whether something that size would make it down the muddy roads to this location.  So, on to plan B.

The last tower we put up was 10 feet tall.  We raised the tank by laying it on its side and wrapping two ropes around it.  By pulling on one end of each rope, we rolled it up to the top.  This tower is 20 feet tall, which means it takes four times the rope and we have to raise it twice as high.  Worth a try.

Joy took a video of the process.  It worked well, but it was quite a pull, especially for those of us on top of the tower.  Once it reached the edge of the platform, I was starting to doubt whether we could pull it over the edge but with two of us on each rope on top, and more pulling the tail ends of the rope on the back side, we were successful.  

While all this was going on, George and the local pastor passed out the food that we had loaded on the truck.  I could see lots of colorful shukas from the tower, and the bags of food were soon distributed to some very thankful families.

Once the tank was on top of the tower, it was already 5:30pm and time to go back to the hotel.  We could hear thunder in the distance and could see some rainfall in the distance.  We’ll save setting the tank upright for tomorrow.

I launched the drone and took some pictures of the progress so far, garnering some interest from some of the local guys that Duncan had hired to help out.