CERCOPAN

Category: Cercopan, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 25 2008 | By: cercopan

A blog from Kristine ..our new Office/Finance Manager…. 

Last Wednesday morning CERCOPAN, Calabar awoke in a sea of murky muddy water resulting from the previous evening’s storm. At 6:30 am I stepped out of bed onto the cold squishy wetness of my submerged bedroom floor carpet and that was only the beginning. I opened my door to find a miniature Cross River runoff flowing through my hallway. My shampoo was leisurely floating downstream from the shower room to join various other household items that had congregated in the living room throughout the night. It was definitely a sight to see. Who needs coffee to perk you up in the morning when you’ve got such an enormous catastrophe to jolt you awake? However, undaunted and once again, the CERCOPAN family joined together to tackle the seemingly insurmountable mess and what could have taken weeks was cleared up in mere hours.

 The hallway at 6am

Any doubts about the onset of the rainy season were quickly dispelled. The storm arrived late in the evening when all was still. The monkeys were all nestled into their nooks, and I was fast asleep inside, oblivious to the onslaught. Unlike most large storms this one was actually rather quiet, but the lack of sound was compensated for by the sheer volume of water brought with it. Sheets and sheets poured down from the sky so rapidly that the earth did not have a chance to defend itself. There was simply too much water for the ground to absorb.  Seeping slowly the water crept in throughout the course of the night to wreak its silent sabotage. It was an every-item-for-itself battle and the water won.

Wading through the remaining six inches of water at dawn, Claire, the Deputy Director, woke me up by gently tapping on my door uttering the words that nothing good could follow – “Um, Kristine, you had better come take a look at this…”. At first I thought the bathroom pipe had burst (as it is very leaky), or a sink had overflowed or something. Not this. Not a flood. Not in my house. Of all the things you expect to happen here, this was just not one of them.

The Office after considerable bailing out of water - still wet!

After a quick evaluation of the damage it was clear this was going to be a huge job. The mud was everywhere in every single room. Some were worse than others, but nothing had been left unaffected. My bedroom, the kitchen, hallway, living room, both offices, and the vet lab were all submerged. Thankfully, everyone came to our aid, including off duty staff. If ever there was a perfect example of team work, this was it. Immediately everyone took up specific tasks, me and Claire, the house staff, keepers, the veterinarian, the education officer and assistant, were all scooping out bucket after bucket of water, moving furniture, pulling up carpets, digging out silt from the trenches and mopping the floors. Amongst singing and whistling, laughing and friendly banter everyone just got right down to it and the job was finished in record time. After a few hours there was a noticeable sign of hope that this would actually get sorted out, then at 3pm, and after only a few short breaks, the entire house and office were not only completely tidied, but even cleaner, more organized and revamped into a nicer, more welcoming space.

 Sitting room looking very clean (although without a carpet) after the cleanup

Though the damage was profound, we were lucky none of the monkeys were affected. Quite a few things in the building, which we are still working on fixing, were ruined or damaged but we are thankful that no one got hurt and appreciative that we have such wonderful staff who really know how to pitch in when it counts. The water level must have been much higher throughout the night as many large objects were carried 20 feet away from their original location. Unfortunately the batteries charging our backup power supply, and also the charger for our radio to communicate with our bush site, among other things, were severely damaged due to the height the water reached. Luckily we have been able to re-wire our power supply but still remain unable to communicate with the bush site. We all remain hopeful and thankful that things continue to work out, and find solace in knowing that we have such an amazing group of people who, together, can face any challenge and triumph against any test we are put up to. As proven, once again, on this day, the CERCOPAN team is a solid shield that can protect against even the most violent of storms, in all ways, shapes and forms.  Nevertheless, we are pleased that these floods occur only rarely.

Cercopan staff hard at work