Eight months. Six plumbers. Thousands of meticais (the
Mozambican currency). After countless visits, drilling, breaking, bucket
bathing, replacing, cold showering, leaking, hand washing, hammering, episodes
of flooding, and meters of new piping, I FINALLY have adequate plumbing in my
apartment.
I’ve learned a great deal throughout the process such as
new Portuguese vocabulary and patience I never knew was there. I’ve realized
much about Mozambican culture, work ethic, time and money management, and
crisis mitigation. I’ve gotten to know my landlord and the Indian neighbors
below me quite well throughout the process (and have even had a few
conversations with them that don’t involve screaming about their kitchen
ceiling dripping).
Now each of my fixtures has a story to tell; like how the
bathroom sink has been on and off of the wall four times. And now every time I close
a faucet and it stays off or every time I watch dirty water magically disappear
into the wall and not the floor, I realize how truly blessed I am. I will never
again take for granted the ability to wash dishes in a sink. I’ll never stop
being amazed at the hot water falling from the showerhead. I’ll never forget
the back-straining, knuckle-tearing hours of hand washing of clothes I endured
for weeks on end, only to turn around and dump the dirty water in the toilet, because
that was the only “drain” that worked.
But at least there are stories to tell and sighs of
relief to be had. For those stories that words cannot capture, here are some
visual highlights of my glorious plumbing process.
