Our first work day in Dar Es Salaam. We can't work on the houses until we get permission from the governor (or whatever) of that region. So far she is being slow and stingy with her permission. Do not despair - we are not daunted. A sister church of deaf individuals is trying to build a building for its meetings. We have no skill, experience, or training in building block walls in Africa so we figure we are perfect for the job. Pastor Charles was excited to find out that I am a fundi (skilled craftsman) and excitedly told the church members and the other fundi that I had much skill and experience. Never mind that I can count on one hand the number of times I have laid block and probably don't need more than two hands to count the number of times I have plastered. In short, I am as inexperienced as the rest other than general building experience. So now there is the expectation of greatness where mediocrity would be a decent accomplishment.
We wedged 19 of us (14 in our group, 4 fundi, and Pastor Charles) into a twelve-passenger van along with our tools, cameras, backpacks, and supplies for the day. Everything you need for a day of hard labor…except water. Who needs water when digging foundations and hauling block in sub-Saharan Africa? It probably won't be over a hundred today…I hope. After about an hour of digging a trench for the foundation our tongues were swollen and sticking to the roof of our mouth. We were desperate for water. Chris said we should be able to get some water after we get blocks. So we hiked to the brickyard to buy some blocks for the walls and foundation.
The brickyard was an exciting place. The yard workers could not seem to stop laughing at us, and one inebriated worker was having such a good time he was jumping up and down, doing cartwheels, and hand stands. Of course the cause of all this acrobatic behavior was our very own Lizzie. He was preening for her like he was the only rooster in the hen house. He proposed to her, offered to buy her shoes, and made it crystal clear he would like to have children with her. Chris tried to find out how much the guy would be willing to pay for her, but Lizzie had something to say about that transaction. Everywhere we went Lizzie caused a stir among the local males. She is such a flirt.
We formed a fire brigade to load the blocks onto the truck. Now when I say "block," erase from your mind any idea of what you think a building block is. These blocks have minimal cement in their composition resulting is a rectangular block of wet sand that if handled very gently can be used by a skilled fundi to erect a wall. If mishandled or the block just doesn't like you large chunks of it will break off, or the whole thing will just dissolve into a pile of sand. Anita discovered how delicate the blocks could be when she was handing one down the fire line and the block spontaneously crumbled into bits loading about 18 pounds of wet sand down the front of her shirt. She handled it like a trooper and kept passing on blocks.
We got the blocks back to the work site and started the process of wall building. Mostly this consisted of carrying blocks (55 lbs. each), shoveling sand, mixing mortar, carrying cement to the fundi, and occasionally actually constructing the walls. As promised our water arrived and we went throughout it like locusts through a bean field. In no time we were looking lustfully at the swill used to mix up the concrete. We know it will mean a week of diarrhea later, but we calculate if it is worth it to slake our thirst at the moment. No one succumbs to the temptation and we survive to laugh about it…or at least talk about it.
When we run out of daylight it is time to clean up and go home. Daylight ends consistently at about 6:30 pm. We head out for our rush hour drive home. Hot, tired, hungry, dehydrated, and sitting on top of each other we were a little punchy. We laughed the whole way home. This wasn't difficult thanks to Sandy. Sandy has a guffaw that is positively contagious, and the ability to laugh at absolutely nothing. Some random thought must pass through her brain and she breaks out in a belly laugh that spreads to the rest of us. Her attempts to tell us what is so funny only deepen the laughter until some one is about to pee their pants (they apparently have not mastered the art of pre-emptive peeing). We stopped to exchange our US dollars for Tanzanian shillings and immediately began exchanging our shillings for cold drinks…they never tasted so good.
Dinner, devotions and half of us passed out while the other half wrote about our day and stayed up too late.
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