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| volunteer camp notes |
Sunday, October 18, 2009 |
a surprise for breakfast!
Morning starts before daybreak at the farm: our watchman also tends to a couple of beds of mchicha (greens) and he is out there watering at 4 am. The roosters follow and then daylight comes over the eastern horizon . It’s a comfortable time of day and the best time for working outdoors.
We have excavated the building and begun laying the earthbag foundation.
A group of young men ( referred to as ‘the boys’ because they’ve been supported by Baobab for a few years now) come and work- they’re good energy and get a lot done. School is out until early next year for them. I’ve known them for almost three years now and can see their growth. Gabriel, who helped on the last building as well, is becoming a strong leader. He finds ways to be more efficient and pays attention to the work.
Sheila, Bill, and Kyle, the Earthrising volunteers participate in different ways. Kyle is very engaged with the neighborhood children- teaching them bits of language, playing soccer and other games. He has also worked with Samson, the brick maker and is learning the process for making fired bricks. People here call him “Kyo” “Kaya” and they all enjoy his attempts at speaking Kiswahili.
Sheila, who is a teacher at home, also enjoys the children. Having a handful of ‘wazungu’ -white people- camped on the farm attracts them and they come to watch us. Some of them actively seek the opportunity to learn and show up with notebooks. Sheila keeps our space organized- thank you! We all take care of stuff but it always takes that last touch to make the difference. We jokingly refer to our space and our camp as “the resort”: we have hammocks, coffee in the morning, great food, sometimes wine at night. Some of us do yoga, spend time reading, and play bao.
Bill- self-proclaimed doing full time karma yoga- arrived just a week ago. His luggage took a couple of days longer to get here but he cheerfully settled into Terri’s tent, borrowed some clothing and went to work.
Parallel to the start-up of the new house we did some re-finishing of the baobab centre building that we built last winter. Bakari and Abdul were hired back to do plaster, and we put together tile mosaics on the windowsills.
The workday ends in the hammock- where else? We take turns taking showers (the bucket kind) and prepare for darkness to fall at about 6:30. Dinner is by the light of a battery-powered lantern, and the watchman shows up.
He puts on a jacket that resembles a uniform and settles in for the night- we believe that he spends most of his time in the hammock too, after we all move to our tents.
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posted by Elke Cole at 8:11 am |
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