Water- or lack of it

I came back to Accra last week Monday and heard about the water shortage going on in Tamale even before I got back up here. Apparently, the main city pipe flowing water into Tamale broke and to fix it they had to shut off the majority of the other pipes. I really have no idea, I just repeat what they tell me :) Of course, it was to be fixed up last week. And then in traditional Ghanaian fashion, "tomorrow". (They always say tomorrow and believe me they don't mean it.) Yesterday, as I was talking to someone they said, "oh, surely before Christmas". WHAT!? That is still weeks away!From that Monday I returned to Tamale we prayed our poly tank (2,000 Liters) would hold out and it would be like the loaves and fish that never ran out. Well, we made it to Friday morning. Pretty good considering we had guests every day that week. We had some yellow jerry cans the landlord left us from the first day in the house when we didn't have water and took advantage of that. Then what?Thankfully Pastor Andrew came to our rescue! He took me to refill them and they have to be 50+pounds when full. Every morning and evening I see women walking with them or big bowls to go and fetch water. Men tie them down on motorbikes. Unfortunately, this doesn't last forever but thankfully P. Andrew would refill them for us and bring them over. I kind of felt a bit helpless! Then P. Andrew called and said he just got a number for someone who has a water tank. So we have to pay and they will come and pump water into our tank. I thought that sounds wonderful! The cost was reasonable too.A little issue came up in the midst of this. The tank of water was too much for my little tank. (I think I need to buy another tank because I hear there are always water shortages in February and March too.) They would not charge me half price. They would not take the other half of the tank to P. Andrew's Mom's house which was just down the road. We felt that was so unfair. These guys would go and sell the water to someone else...water we paid for. So, we started calling the neighbors around telling them to come and get free water and boy did they run bringing any containers!I was so glad to give my water to these women. Many of them I have sat with to learn language. I don't know how far they have had to go to get water. I was so glad I could share. I hope one day I can share with them about the Living Water.(Don't ask me how they carried some of those huge barrels full of water. Ei!!)Just imagine living with one barrel of water? or 3 jerry cans? You really think twice about washing your hair:)It's another one of those times where I praise God for his abundance in my life. Yeah, so I was short water and we still aren't getting any thru the pipes. At least I have the money to get water (THANKS supporters!). At least I don't have to walk and walk and walk to get water. At least I have friends who help me to get water. I, again, have all I need. God be praised!Let's pray the pipes would be fixed and Tamale will have water again and pray for other ways I can love my neighbors.