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Wednesday, May 3, 1978, 8:00 pm, Day 827
I am in Faiama now. I left Sefadu yesterday morning and traveled down as far as to Pendembu, where I spent the night. This morning I continued on into Faiama. I was really amazed at the performance of my motorcycle on this trip. I wasn't sure of the petrol situation in this neck of the woods, so I brought along an extra gallon container full. Therefore, I wasn't worried about running out of gas, so I just rode until I ran out. I ended up coasting to a stop 121.8 miles down the road. When the motorcycle was new, I remember once getting 113 miles on it, but recently I have been basing my judgements on a figure of 100 miles per tankful. So you can see how utterly amazed I was when the motorcycle just kept running right along, past 100 miles, past 110, past 120 even! Then I turned the petrol into the tank and continued on my way.
I reached Faiama and found Frank's house okay. His motorcycle was on the veranda and his windows were all open, so I figured he was home. The door was shut but not locked. I knocked but no one answered, so I went on in. I called to Frank and finally got an answer. I found him lying in bed, sick with malaria. He says he got it Sunday and that yesterday was the worst. He thinks that he is coming out of it now. The fever is gone and the sweating is started. He says the headache is the worst part now. I'll wait until tomorrow before I try to talk with him too much.
Frank is part of a strange coincedence concerning Diana. When Diana came up country to see me, she left one week before she arrived in Kamiendor. That week she spent mostly up here in Faiama with Frank. The odds of a thing like that occuring aren't too good. It has been many years since Diana last went to visit anyone up country. There are almost 200 Peace Corps volunteers in the country, and I didn't even know that Frank and Diana knew each other. How often do I manage to get out and spend a full week working with another volunteer in his village? Not too often. Diana told me to tell Frank "Hello" from her, but I think that I will wait until he is better before I do that. He can't very well concentrate on a conversation at this time.
In Kamiendor, Diana pointed out to me that Frank did not have the problem of kids hanging around like I had. I found today though, that that is not true. Maybe it is just because I am here, but even when I was inside Frank's house with the front door shut, there were usually a few kids always just outside, and often making quite a bit of noise.
I spent today preparing the survey notes for the mapping of the town. I went around first, trying to sketch a map, showing all of the houses, but before I was through, I got all confused, because one section just wasn't coming out. Faiama is a confusing town to survey, because all of the houses are just built where ever they happen to be, so none of them are lined up or anything. That way, it is hard to keep each house straight, to know if it has already been counted or if it still needs to be. Then, after the sketch map, I went around the town again, this time deciding where all the survey pegs would go , and which houses will go to each peg. Doing this, I was able to get an accurate number of the actual number of houses in this town. I counted 76. Another confusing thing about Faiama is that this village has the most kitchen huts that I have ever seen. They average more than one per house. I don't want kitchens on my map, but sometimes I can't really tell if it is a kitchen or a house.
Saturday, May 6, 1978, 9:00 pm, Day 830
Just one more day and then I hope to be done with this design. I arrived last Wednesday and set up the survey. On Thursday I surveyed all of the town, and did all of the calculations of the survey notes. On Friday I drew up the town map and designedthe distribution pipe network. Today I surveyed out to the two possible water sources, then I designed the supply pipe and tank, and started finalizing the rest of the design. Tomorrow I plan to design the tank, standpipes, and junction boxes, complete the list of materials, do the proposal write-up, and complete the drawing of the plans.
I'll be leaving Faiama on Monday morning, spend the night in Sefadu, and then reach Kamiendor on Tuesday.
Frank's malaria has dragged on quite a bit. Last Wednesday when I came, it was his third day of it. Thursday also, he was still pretty much out of it. Yesterday, he started coming back to normal, and he figured that it would all be gone by today. Today though, he still had a slight headache and a slight fever, but he figures it will now be all gone by tomorrow. I think I heard that somewhere before.
I still haven't mentioned anything about Diana to him yet, and so, since it has gone this long already, I'll probably leave it at that and not bring up the subject. But if Frank happens to mention it, then I won't mind contributing my part to the conversation, because I don't have any secrets. So far though, he hasn't mentioned anything about it. Frank says that he has been sick for 3 out of the last 4 weeks, with the one week of healthyness being just before this bout with malaria. That would mean that he was sick during the time when Diana was here, but Diana never mentioned anything about Frank being sick.
It sure seems like rainy season now. It rained alot these last few afternoons and evenings. There is a small river or big stream just at the edge of town, which is one of the possible water sources. The first day that I got here, I went out to look at it. I crossed over to the other side with no problem. I never even got my feet wet, as there were stones all the way. The next day though, the river had come up a little. I crossed over easily this time also, but now I had to get my feet wet, as some of the stones were then under water. Today though, I tried to cross over, and found it impossible to do so. In trying, I came close to getting washed on down stream. The water has really come up. It's really rushing now.
Sunday, May 7, 1978, 7:00 pm, Day 831
Well, I've completed the design. I did everything on it. I took time off this afternoon to go up and take another look at the water source. I bush-cleared the area so that I could get a better look, and I found that the water is flowing and the flow seems to be sufficient.
On the design, I ended up with 25 pages, plus a table of contents and a title page, so it is quite a sizeable piece of work. Also, I drew up the town map and distribution network, and then I also drew up the plan for the water-intake structure at the source.
Therefore, I am now free to head out of here and back up to Kono tomorrow. And that is what I am going to do. I am leaving the drawings and the originals of the design with Frank, but I am taking a carbon copy of the design with me, as well as the survey notes and my design rough draft notes.
I am really tired from this work, and need a few days rest.
Monday, May 8, 1978, 10:00 pm, Day 832
I am back in Kamiendor now. I ended up traveling all of the way today, and it sure tired me out. Altogether, it was 180 miles of dirt road, averaging about 25 mph. That's a full 7 hours of riding time, and it is a type of riding that puts a strain on your whole body. One part is the physical strain, gotten by just going over 180 miles worth of bumps. Just as bad though, is the mental strain. This is gotten by having to watch the road closely at all times. Constantly, you have to watch for bumps, gullys, rocks, puddles, chickens, loose gravel, anything. Also, you have to concentrate on keeping the motorcycle centered on the 1 1/2 ft wide track which acts as your roadway. Often times, trying to come up out of the track is a almost sure way of falling down. This is because the sides slope sideways and are covered with loose gravel. The motorcycle doesn't like loose gravel too much.
I arrived here in Kamiendor just a few minutes before sundown, and not too long before the rain started. The last 15 miles, I wasn't sure if I would beat the rain or not, but luckily Kamiendor had a clear spot of sky above it while it was raining on either side. I managed to reach before the rain closed in on it.
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