Photos….left. to right. Piers…Vicci…..Andrew…….Janet.
These photos were taken in about. 1973./1980
We made a swimming pool at Kusai down in the Boli river valley. We called it the Muger swimming pool.
We rented land down in the valley and we grew coffee down there and lemon trees from which we made lemonade and orange trees which as I have told you before should have been sweet oranges but were actually sour ones from which we made marmalade.
The Boli River itself was quite a large river, which we could paddle in, in the dry season but was far too dangerous in the rainy season (the kerempt in Amharic). So we decided we would build a small pool at Kusai that we could paddle in and also pretend to swim in but actually, it was a simple way of keeping cool and washing in. It was also used by the local people ( some of whom we employed to work on the coffee and citrus areas ) BUT it was a major feat of engineering to bring the water all the way down about 2000 feet from the dam on the Alaltu River on the farm at Mulu, all the way down about 2000 feet from the dam on the in Alaltu river on the farm at Mulu, all the way down into Kusai where we had a mud and wattle place to stay. The house had 3 rooms, one at each end as bedrooms and a middle one that was open to the outside which we used as a sitting/dining room.
Bringing the water down in the dry season was quite easy as our employees would dig out a narrow canal, all the way down the very steep but accessible slope to Kusai.
In the rainy season we did not have to use the canal to bring water down as there was so much rain that we didn’t need any extra water.
Sometimes the rain was so intense that the water would overflow and break the sides of the canal and water would go plunging out of the canal and could cause landslides which were dangerous for the people living below them. So, we did have to be certain that no water got into the canal during the rainy season. I seem to remember that we would allow the water to get into the canal about 2 or 3 times a week. This enabled the people living in Kusai to get water but also to stop people living below the canal from being flooded but also it would enable them to get some water without having to walk a long way to get water. In this way, everyone benefited and was happy.