In case you missed it, click to read Part I, Part II, Part III or my video postcard.
Day 7 - Thursday
Thursday was all about building cages. (Another team from Alabama had joined us late Wednesday evening at the compound, so you'll be seeing them working along side us from here on out.)
The cage is a framework which holds the chunks of rubble, and creates the main structure for the rubble home walls.
It involves a lot of cutting, snipping, twisting and bending of metal rods and chicken wire. Not as back-breaking as the rubble, rock and sand hauling, but still a task in itself. Mostly tedious repetitive work.
Lunch was rice and beans with fish in a spicy broth with some veggies. (I love this stuff)
Then we finished up the last few sections of cage and piled them on top of the dump truck to transport to the home site. We walked along in front of / behind it across the dump & river.
Kate apparently wanted to run.
Then the local team assembled some cross-beams & frames to hold the cages in place... I put my talents to use keeping it from falling over.
With some much-needed help from our translator, Pascal.
A few more close-ups of the family that would be living in the house.
Kate and Wendy hanging with a couple of our diligent assistants for the week, Makin & Reuben.
Later, back at the compound, I found one of the peacocks chillin' on the dump truck.
And snagged some photos and footage of the Milky Way from the rooftop.
Day 8 - Friday
Breakfast was chicken patties and super spicy coleslaw. Actually, turns out we were slightly misinformed on the paddies. SOME were chicken. The rest were fish or hot dog. Hey, take what you can get. The chicken and fish were pretty great.
Back at the house - we grabbed some early morning group shots...
Then got to work on a bucket line to fill the wall cages with rubble.
This is what the cages look like filled:
It's dirty work. The closer you are to the spot being filled (we fill in columns about two feet wide) the more sand, dirt and small chunks of rubble you get poured on you as the small stuff trickles out of the chicken wire. Even farther away, you're pretty much in a dust cloud the whole time.
That's "Demo" - probably the hardest working employee they have.
No, seriously. We worked hard.
Super hard. Most of the time.
And posed for a shot of our filled-in walls.
Then we started moving more of the sand closer to the house, which is mixed with cement to fill in the gaps in the rubble and becomes a smoother wall surface.
Even the little ones wanted to pitch in.
We always made sure to take some breaks and have fun with the kids.
A view inside the "spackling" process of the walls. Wendy and I both took our turns flinging cement into the cracks.
And Aaron bumming a ride home this time with Stephen.
We enlisted his help to try and fix a bike chain that snapped right next to us in the riverbed.
He was left with a bike oil heart...
After we got back, we gave the rest of the soccer gear to all the boys who pitched in and helped us work all week.
...and Ruth, one of the toughest chicks I've ever met. She put most of us to shame when it came to shoveling.
And then a few of us took to the kitchen to get our cooking lesson from Islande.
A key part of the marinade recipe is "Dance Party."
...and plenty of deep-frying.
Delicious.
More tk.
-J