Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Oh Well!!



Things are continuing to move along on the site, in spite of my inability to get onto this blog and post anything for the past week. The internet connection is good but for some reason I can't always access this page.
So I guess it is the nature of Hand Dug well construction here in Kabala that one can never quite know what to expect in the next few inches of soil. So far we have actually only dug two holes. Yet everyday I get called saying "Mista Asha, we have run into a small problem..... spread rock." But then I go to the site and it turns out that the guys actually digging the well think they can break through the rock. So it has been like that the past few days going back and forth and suggesting other sites if they cannot get through. But this hole is 17 feet deep and hopefully only 4-5 more feet until we hit the water table.
The construction of a store or warehouse was also started and completed last week. It is a wood framed building, but should be pretty solid and act as extra storage for the school after construction is complete. The store also has a front porch where the night watchmen will sit guard the site itself and the materials and tools inside the shed.
The other photograph is of the crews making bricks from the mud of the creek bed. It is pretty amazing to watch them make the bricks. They add a little water to the clay and dirt then press the 5"x5"x12" bricks with a hand press. The bricks then dry in the sun. We have been fortunate to get some very good soil. And these guys are cranking out 1000 bricks a day with 6 men working. We have ordered 10,000 but will likely need more once we get a better idea of the final construction drawings.
We are getting excited about this coming week when Norm Groot will be coming, hopefully coinciding with the start of construction of foundations. There are many other visitors coming to the area for a celebration of the CRC church in Sierra Leone which will take place in a village called Foria, about 50 miles from Kabala. I hope that excitement for the school will be build as we begin construction.

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