Day 22 :The Dog Days Commence

In contrast to earlier this week, today and Friday were much more laid back and plodding. Work seems to have stalled somewhat, or is rather moving slower than before. The masons have been working a lot - we employ the same three ones for most of the work - but with so many sites, it's hard to stay exactly on track all the time. But no fear! The latrines will still be mostly done by the time we leave next Saturday (Anough is again the lone wolf which is behind all the others).

Our time here is split between buying and transporting materials around to the sites and actually overseeing and helping with the construction, with healthy doses of naps in between (physical labor is more demanding than what we're used to). Akokapom moved slowly to finish 90% of the superstructure, after which they ran out of sand and needed Sammy to buy some more. One of elders in the village took Anjali, Mike, and Ben to see the nearby Christian cemetery, tucked away in a surprisingly serene grove of trees. Besides the founder of the village being buried there, we saw a tall mango tree which is purported to have been planted over one of the graves. That means that the village has been around for at least a hundred or so years! It's amazing how old Obodan and the surrounding areas truly are.

Western Obodan saw plastering on its walls continued, with cries of "Mortar! Mortar!" coming through every so often. After evening took hold (it's pitch black by 6:30 pm here), the team ate rice for dinner, and finished up watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the evening. Brilliant movie.

SIgning off,

team 2