A short week, but never the less it was not short of excitement. I rented a compact machine for two days to compact the sand in preparation for casting the floor.
We need a total of 6300 cement blocks for the building, and I told the community that they need to produce minimum of 360 blocks per day, using twelve bags of cement. So far they molded about 4300 blocks.
Monday the community did not have money to buy food for the workers so, they were hungry and left at lunch. Tuesday the same and Wednesday, twenty people came, but they were tired and produced only 120 blocks, using only four bags of cement.
So, here comes a four day weekend and we are scheduled to cast the floor next week. I took a new approach, I told the community that they need to make about a thousand building blocks by next Tuesday otherwise we will not cast the floors and we are going to loose another week, which means some stuff might not be completed by the time I leave at the end of March.
On Thursday, New Year Eve, the community day off, a lot of people came, mainly men since it was a market day. They made, in a half a day, five time more blocks than the previous day. Twenty bags of cement, 600 blocks in one day!!! The atmosphere at the site was great. We finished compacting the sand underneath the intended floor and if our plans will materialize, this time next week we will have our floors and we will start to build the school walls.
In parallel to all this effort I am seriously considering to start digging the septic tank, at the same time that we will start the school walls. Is the community up to it? They say they are.
I am very slow learner and again, I am probably putting my finger back into the fire and hope that I will not get burned. Tomorrow I am going to meet with the Elders to get their commitment to dig the septic tank, so that we can install toilets at the school. When I will be done with the Airfield Community, I think that I will be certified to teach kindergarten or first grade school.. .Probably working with the children would be easier than dealing with the Ewe Community. I am sure that I would get better understanding and agreements with them than with this adult community.
Never a dull moment and I am learning something new everyday and trying different approaches every week.
