{"id":398,"date":"2010-12-01T08:15:57","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T13:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ziegelbaur\/?p=398"},"modified":"2010-12-01T08:42:46","modified_gmt":"2010-12-01T13:42:46","slug":"the-saga-of-the-septic-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ziegelbaur\/?p=398","title":{"rendered":"The Saga of the Septic Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A few\u00a0weeks ago our next door\u00a0neighbors came knocking on our door.\u00a0 There has been water leaking from our yard into theirs under the wall — and it smells bad!\u00a0 A call to the landlady, and a few days later, we had major septic tank repairs going on in our yard!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
work begins digging for the septic tank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first day<\/span>, Wednesday,\u00a0a couple of workers came to dig up the septic tank.\u00a0 It was covered with dirt and cement which was originally meant to be a car port, but we hang our clothes lines there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Day 2<\/span>, Thursday,\u00a0the truck arrived to pump out the contents of the tank – 3 tanks actually.\u00a0 You’re glad photos do not communicate the odor we experienced!\u00a0\u00a0The owner of the company was present, dressed in a nice suit, with\u00a0surgical mask on\u00a0as protection from noxious fumes.\u00a0 He gave me great confidence in his team, giving such references as the U.S. Embassy and one of the Wycliffe buildings nearby.\u00a0 He listed off about 4 different things that were wrong with our septic system, and\u00a0assured me that once his team had finished pumping, the rest of the job would only take 2 days.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The septic tank pumper truck arrives in the street outside our house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The hose goes from the truck in the road, along the side of the house, and into the back yard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
and down the hole to pump it out - talk about your dirty jobs!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Day 3<\/span>, Friday,\u00a0the landlady went out to buy supplies to complete the work, which took all morning.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the workers were here waiting for her.\u00a0 She arrived in the afternoon with cement, sand, pipe and rebar so they can fix the septic tank the way it should have been constructed in the first place.\u00a0 The work began while she watched; much heated\u00a0discussion ensued – in a language I don’t understand.\u00a0 It was decided that it’s too late in the day to begin the work.\u00a0 They’ll “be back tomorrow.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Day 3 supplies purchased: cement (covered), pipe, rebar, cement blocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>
sacs of cement purchased and waiting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Day 4<\/span>, Saturday, we asked our guard to come work overtime to be there while the workers are there… no workers showed up.\u00a0 There the supplies sat, waiting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Day 5<\/span>, Sunday, when we asked they NOT come, workers showed up and began the repairs to the septic system and tanks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Day 5 reconstruction of septic tank begins at last<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0Day 6<\/span>, Monday, would be a great day to finish the job, but again no workers showed up.\u00a0 They said the cement needed to dry.\u00a0 Meanwhile, washing and drying clothes in this work zone was a challenge!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Day 6: Dry cement, dry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Day 7<\/span>, Tuesday, while I was teaching kindergarten, the\u00a0workers\u00a0and landlady arrived.\u00a0 By the time\u00a0I got home, the landlady had left, apparently after much heated discussion again.\u00a0 The workers told me they’re done and ready to be paid (with money the landlady had left for me to give them when the work is completed to my satisfaction).\u00a0 I called them to the back of the house to look over their work.\u00a0\u00a0After discussion between me and workers it was evident neither I nor they were satisfied with the work.\u00a0 Apparently landlady had run out of funds to provide adequate\u00a0quantities of supplies.\u00a0 So I asked the workers, “what do you need to get the job done well?”\u00a0 They calculated, I gave them money, they left.\u00a0\u00a0So I began to worry: “Have I just been taken?”\u00a0 I just gave them twice as much as I was to pay them.\u00a0 They could leave with the money and never finish the job.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Trust.\u00a0 It’s a risk I’m willing to make.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To my relief, they did return with a taxi full of sand and cement!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>
Day 7 Taxi loaded with sand and cement arrives to my great relief<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After we’d looked over the final job, and all were happy, I paid them the remainder of their due for this job.\u00a0 Then one of the men reminded me that we’d looked over plumbing in the bathroom that had perhaps been affected, and he offered to go get parts in order to fix those problems with the sink drain and toilet.Trusting again, I gave him about $20.\u00a0 This time my trust was not merited.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Day 8<\/span> we cannot use the bathroom sink since our “friend” removed the drain pipe and didn’t come back to fix it, toilet wasn’t flush properly, and the faucet in the\u00a0kitchen sink was leaking.\u00a0 And since they’d left the yard a bit messy, Emmanuel, our day guard, started to clean up, spreading the extra dirt around the yard (under the grass), and throwing all the old cement slabs in a truck for Ron to take to RFIS and make into gravel for future construction needs.<\/dl>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Emmanuel cleans up, spreading excess dirt UNDER the grass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
<\/dl>\n

\n

<\/dl>\n
<\/dl>\n
Day\u00a09<\/span> Thanksgiving Day.\u00a0 Still no workers.\u00a0 Landlady arrived in the midst of our preparations for the evening’s feast.\u00a0 Told her that I’d given them money to complete the job.\u00a0 Told her the plumber took $20 (10,000 cfa) to buy parts for indoor plumbing, and hadn’t returned.\u00a0 Apparently he took our money and went to his village.\u00a0 She ranted and raved about not liking to work with people who do\u00a0 not know Jesus (none of us asked why she’d hired them).\u00a0 And she left muttering something about having the guy locked up.<\/dl>\n
By this time Ron was home from school early (because it’s Thanksgiving).\u00a0 He tried to\u00a0call a real plumber, Polycarp, a Cameroonian\u00a0who had done work in our house before and is a trusted professional in the missionary community.\u00a0 But Polycarp’s number is changed, so we sent Emmanuel off in a taxi to find him and bring him over.<\/dl>\n
So, within the hour he was at our house, working on both bathrooms, and while I mixed the gravy, he was in the kitchen with me.\u00a0 Oh, and of course he had to turn off the water, so that made last minute preparations interesting.\u00a0 But I was thankful to finally have ALL the work done, faucets that don’t leak, a drain that doesn’t leak, and\u00a0toilets that flush properly.\u00a0 And our neighbors are not getting smelly drainage in their yard anymore.\u00a0 And that’s a lot to be thankful for.<\/dl>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Polycarp - a REAL plumber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Finally the job is done !<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/dl>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 A few\u00a0weeks ago our next door\u00a0neighbors came knocking on our door.\u00a0 There has been water leaking from our yard into theirs under the wall — and it smells bad!\u00a0 A call to the landlady, and a few days later, we had major septic tank repairs going on in our yard!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first day, Wednesday,\u00a0a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameroon-life","category-family-updates"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Saga of the Septic Tank - The Ziegelbaurs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ziegelbaur\/?p=398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Saga of the Septic Tank - The Ziegelbaurs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 A few\u00a0weeks ago our next door\u00a0neighbors came knocking on our door.\u00a0 There has been water leaking from our yard into theirs under the wall — and it smells bad!\u00a0 A call to the landlady, and a few days later, we had major septic tank repairs going on in our yard!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first day, Wednesday,\u00a0a...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ziegelbaur\/?p=398\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Ziegelbaurs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-01T13:15:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-01T13:42:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2010\/11\/septic-day-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ziegelbaur\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ziegelbaur\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ziegelbaur\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63da26113aa808244e4eb77c0dae1862\"},\"headline\":\"The Saga of the Septic Tank\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-01T13:15:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-01T13:42:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398\"},\"wordCount\":1177,\"commentCount\":2,\"articleSection\":[\"Cameroon Life\",\"Family updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ziegelbaur\\\/?p=398\",\"name\":\"The Saga of the Septic Tank - 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