Team 20 Day 6

After a long day’s work yesterday, the sun rose far too early for several of the team’s members who were caught still in bed as our Rolexes arrived on the kitchen bench. A couple of coffees later and the team were raring to go – another day of labour up at the Village. The foci for today were three independent projects; paint the fascia boards on Houses 11 & 12, lay the brick foundations for the kitchen and laundry area of the farmhouse, and dig the trench and lay the pipes for water also to the farmhouse.

After last night’s storm, a cooler morning assisted the team in their respective tasks, however their laborious and often precarious nature did take their toll. Megan was the first casualty, slicing her elbow on some corrugated iron whilst painting. She was whisked off to the local hospital by Robert. She was to return by lunch with two stitches, an injection and a pocket full of pills, and has since bounced back well. A delicious lunch comprising samosas and fruit greeted the team when they returned to Suubi, however, the morning’s huge effort prevented a couple of team members from making it out for the second session.

We returned to the Village, in what was now baking heat, to try to knock off a couple of these significant tasks. The painting was completed swiftly, and soon it was all hands on deck down at the farm. Tasks on the farm consisted of trench digging, pipe-laying, wheel-barrowing loads of rock, rock-crushing, cement mixing and finally cement laying. The work was backbreaking however the team shared the load, rotating roles seamlessly, albeit with ever-increasing regularity! Throughout the merry-go-round of Mzungu’s on the tools, the local builders worked tirelessly all afternoon, and no doubt found some amusement in our working habits. The trench was finished by half 4 - a terrific achievement - whilst the cement was half laid by knock off time.

The team returned to Suubi in dribs and drabs, many broken physically after a couple of hard days on the tools, but the team remained in high spirits. Admittedly, this spirit was aided by a gorgeous pink sunset, a hearty dinner of lasagna and, most importantly, two fresh crates of soft drinks. Extra Stoney’s this time too!

- Chris (with assistance from Erin & Maggie)