Friday, August 3, 2012

Ferrocement and Rain


What a day… Today was supposed to be the first day of ferrocement.  We had gotten some builders to help us render the sides.  The first two took a look at the holes, and decided that the hole surface was too wet and impossible to plaster.  The second two declared the whole idea of ferrocement ridiculous.  So we got down and dirty ourselves!

While one of the workmen, Joseph, watched (the other ones had already left), we began to plaster.  And it worked very well!  Once we showed Joseph that it was possible, he jumped on in and started.  And he was able to do the work of four of us in half the time.  It seems that everyone in this village is really good at mixing, pouring and plastering.  So today we were able to successfully apply the first rendering on 2 of the holes.  Tomorrow we will hopefully render the remaining 3 holes and apply the mesh.

Watching the rainy season start has been very exciting.  Yesterday brought heavy rains in the afternoon.  Kevin and I ran between the houses to check on how the gutters were working.  And most of them were very successful.  One of the houses was able to harvest 2 large barrels of rain from the gutters.  It was excellent validation for all of the work we’ve been putting in.

In other news, Nalan returned from Kampala with her new American Visa and chocolate for Vanya and me. Yay!  And no one has Ebola (just a few colds).  Also, the stores finally restocked our favorite sweet bread (doughnuts), so everyone’s happy here!

-Becca

No comments:

Post a Comment