After a week of rains, we have had almost 2 wks of no rain. The tanks are getting low, the mangos are growing, fires are easily started and have lots of fuel to keep them going. Last night, just after finishing dinner with Ben and Katherine Radcliffe, we heard crackling outside. I looked out the window and saw a large fire in the garden. Ben and I grabbed buckets of water and ran to try and put the flames out. The fire was quickly spreading and as we turned to go and get more water, the McCoys, security, Don and Andy were there coming to help, soon a number of kids were there too helping to put out the fire. The villagers were on the other side of the fence, also trying to help and put the fire out, and watch us as we worked. Thankfully, we were able to stop the spread of the fire, but not before it destroyed the brush along the fence. As we were finishing up our fire, another fire broke out on station and many went to help put that out. Thankfully the fires were squelched without damage to houses. Today, while surveying the damage, we noticed the vegetables near the fire had also suffered some burns. The lack of rain has now shut down our hydro electric power. We don’t have enough water to keep the canal full and the power coming. We are now relying on our large donated generator for power,…
Source: Drought and Fires from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific