Day 19 and 20: Team 2 Takeover

Day 19

After bidding farewell to our Travel Team 1 counterparts (we miss you!), Anjali, Mike, Ben, and Suraj headed back to Obodan for night and awoke to a brand new week of latrine work. With the majority of the latrine sites finished with substructure work (the exception being Anough), today began with inspection and helping out moving blocks to the Western Obodan site. The boys can carry the blocks with their strong, manly muscles, but the office-work atrophied arms of Anjali required her to carry the cement block on her head (with a T-shirt rolled up underneath for comfort). It's quite amazing how strong the community members' necks are here - heads are used to carry most large items, and the women can even balance whole tubs of water on their heads without needing hands to steady them as they walk. The Western site finished most of its superstructure.

After Western we took a break in our room that quickly morphed into an afternoon siesta for most of the team (Mike doesn't do naps, alas), after which we blearily trooped to Alata to check up on the rebar work. The masons were working hard and swiftly at pouring in the concrete slab, and finished that for the day. We bought some rice on the way back, and for dinner Anjali showed her cooking prowess (or at least her ability to not mess up) by making some rice with flavoring in it. We were all quite tired for the day, and the evening ended with an early bed.

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Day 20

Laundry Day! One truly appreciates washing machines once she has washed four loads of clothes by hand, with breaks to fetch a bucket of water at the nearby borehole every so often.

Today was a more strenuous work day, the kind that actually has you waking up a bit stiff the next day. In the morning the team split up between overseeing the work in Akokapom and Central Obodan. The concrete floor slab was poured in Akokapom, while the superstructure was finished in Central. Then, after a lunch break of the ubiquitous bread (our diet tends to consist primarily of carbohydrates here) sold here, we all walked to Alata, where we carried blocks once more and mixed mortar for the masons to use to work on the superstructure. No naps today. After Alata we moved to Anough, where the substructure was still being worked on. Dirt needed to be filled in on the sides of the pit, so the team grabbed shovels to help with that part. If you've ever read "Holes" by Louis Sachar, then you have a better idea of how shoveling dirt feels like. The evening ended with Ben taking over the chef's duty and cooking up some more rice, except with the added bonus of onions. There was time for a quick movie, then beddy-byes.

Cheers from Africa,

Anjali, Ben, Mike, Suraj