Ditch diggin' - Road fixin'

Well, our road does need fixin', but no one is doing anything about it.

What you can't see is that down past our gate, the road is impassable to cars, so only bikes, motorcycles and foot traffic can get through.




It really is worse than it looks.

The poor condition of the road is caused by run-off.

All the drainage ditches are filled with years of caked mud and grass, and so water jumps the ditches and runs down the center of the road.

Enter Doug Taylor. My amazing husband.

One Saturday morning, he got out there with his tools to see what he could do about the drain.

It really was bad and needed A LOT of work.

(not so much this end, but the other end where he is - water and dirt never got this far because of the "caked" effect where he is working)

As he worked, he began to draw a crowd.

First, Sunday (a watchman from across the street). Then Kylie.

Digging out the ditch...

Then hauling the dirt to fill the holes in the road. (a temporary solution)

Then Caleb realized he could put on his gum boots and join the fun, so he did.

Plus, he got the added bonus of holding a real, live tool.

As it neared lunch, more people were stopping.

Geoffrey (in the white) ended up spending the rest of the day helping Sunday and Doug, and his outfit was not so white at 5 o'clock.

And even though Karis came out, she and I didn't do any actual work.

Moral support, my dears. Moral support.

Geoffrey and Sunday created some interesting tools to get the caked-in dirt out from under the cement-covered ditch.

This is one of a few "new" tools they adapted.

Well, the good news is that many hours, several wheelbarrows of dirt, and a few buckets of water later, the ditch was completely clean.


Fast forward one week...


Enter God with an amazing rain storm.

The ditch did great and stayed clear, but...

the rain was in such abundance, it ended up jumping the drain in the same old place where some rock has worn away, and it washed our road out same as always.

In my humble opinion (because I AM the humble-est), a little cement might do the trick on that break in the drainage wall, but it looks like that might be another job for Doug, Sunday, Geoffrey, Kylie and Caleb, because I feel led to be moral support...

and the picture taker.

Don't forget, I do it all for you guys, so you can see riveting stories like this from the continent of Africa.

Here for you... :)