Crazy to imagine right? I mean when in Malawi, it's just how things are - I know that the water in the buckets is truly precious and I truly treasure and savor each little bit. I cherish the drinking water and the bucket next to the toilet and the water used to wash my clothes. And somehow, when I get back to the states and the city and water is abundant and gushing from the faucets, literally, I forget all of those things I have seen and experienced.
Well let's just say on Sunday, I was reminded of how precious water truly is! And I had quite the wake up call, literally, with my neighbor frantically ringing my doorbell and banging on the door at 6 AM - it was dark out people! I don't know about you, but I don't get up that early - it's DARK outside! And my heart was beating a mile a minute. At first, I thought it was a joke, a sick one mind you, considering it was so early on a Sunday morning and still DARK outside. But the joke didn't stop, it continued...with a harder knock and incessant doorbell ringing. I thought the house was on fire or something, and I literally walked into the kitchen to make sure I hadn't left the kettle on or something. I was thankful for our little peephole, and extremely relieved when I saw that it was my neighbor.
He kindly informed me that my outdoor faucet wouldn't turn off and there must be a broken valve. I'm surprised I heard any of it considering I thought my heart was literally going to burst out of my chest. He went on to say, you need to turn the water off, there could be damage...you need to crawl under the house into the crawl space...you need to call Seattle city water - the water company. After enlightening me with his profound thoughts, he kindly informed me that he was on his way to work and he had to leave.
I was operating on adrenaline. I walked into the house and called Seattle city water only to realize they don't service us. I should have known this, but I was in panic mode. And then the kind woman gave me the number to another water company...I called them and left a message only to have them call me back and inform me that they didn't service me either. I literally laughed and said who did I call? And he kindly gave me the number to the correct water company to call - so I called their emergency line, left a message and while I waited, I figured I needed to do some investigating of my own. So I got down and dirty and grabbed a flash light and ventured under our crawl space...in the dark. I could barely see all the spider webs, but I could feel them with my face! And luckily, there wasn't any water damage to the house, in fact there wasn't any water down there at all.
But I knew that I needed to turn the water off and fast...I had no idea how long it had been running nor did I know how much it was all going to cost me nor did I know just how to do it! So I asked the man from the water company, to come help me, but when I asked him how much it was going to cost me just to have him come turn the water off and when he responded $200 - I nearly vomited!! He kindly had pity on me, and yes, I played the pregnancy card and I'm all alone card on the message I left on the emergency service line and he was the one to hear that message - lucky man right? And it probably helped that I sounded anxious and panicked!
Well I spent the rest of the day doing research and calling plumbing companies, but it was Sunday, and who works on Sunday? Definitely not the smaller plumbing companies that I wanted to work with! I had a quote from one big company that was just outrageous and I turned them away merely out of principle. I mean Peter always gets at least 3 quotes before landing on a company, and it just felt wrong to go with the big guys. We're all about supporting small businesses. But the clock was ticking, and as much as I wanted to persevere through the water outage, I knew I wasn't going to last a night!
So after emailing loads of friends and after having some dear friends come visit me and try to fix the issue themselves, I finally got the name of a plumber who kindly came out and fixed everything before the sun went down, on a Sunday! Praise the Lord!! What could have been such a terrible situation, especially since Peter wasn't there, turned into such a beautiful one. I was so abundantly blessed by my community, my family, and my friends and those kind men that came to save the day!
And I felt like I experienced a little bit of Africa today and the preciousness of water. I only had one jug of drinking water. I couldn't flush the toilet. I couldn't wash my hands or the dishes. I couldn't refill the ice cube tray. I couldn't do any laundry. And it was crazy to think about all the water I would have used (wasted) that day had the water not been turned off.
So I challenge you to try it...turn off your water for a day and see how you operate without it! Crazy to think about right?
Xoxo,
Malia
Xoxo,
Malia
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