Paul Takes Charge

Pastor Paul, who heads up the Gatenga church we have been working for, has been in Congo for the last week.

Today was our first time to let him know what we have been doing and to take him to the site to see all our work.

One of my targets before I left for Rwanda was to get a photo shot of Paul driving a bulldozer, and today was just that opportunity - no quicker than I had suggested and he was up in the cab

In fact he was so keen I thought he was going to drive the machine, but common sense prevailed. I would quite like to have seen it.

There were of course a few last minute discussions - the MOU, tidying up the front of the site, and a site board

Most things seem in order though there will always be things to do. I meet Callum on Wednesday morning for a debrief. Must get my report done! Loads to say.

Off Home Tomorrow

Tomorrow is going to be very busy - 6am - prepare final construction agreement, 7.30 breakfast, 8.30 meeting re Biogas septic tanks, 9.30 - pack bags, 10am with Paul and to site, 12pm meet Norbert and Builders, 1.30 lunch and email Inkuru Nziza our final report, 3pm taxi airport

Here is what the site looks like now - nearly ready for foundations being started this week

Winnie's School

Some of you may remember that when things were bad in November during my last visit, Winnie was very encouraging and gave good advice about the planning department.

Well today we went to see her Primary School which is just 150 metres behind our College site. I expected a small couple of buildings - could not have been more wrong.

Many people had told us about how great a school it is. Here are some photos, but the real brilliance is that they have thought through very carefully how to educate young children, from nursery to primary 4.

I let the photos tell the story.

Primary One to Three are in these classrooms, with about 25 - 30 in each

The new assembly Hall is enormous and can be used for many things

It has a great outlook over the hills, and is just a short distance from our site

Children in the nursery sometimes get tired and require a snooze.

Children in Primary 3 are learning lots of information we did not know!

This must be a teachers worst nightmare!

Clear that he is learning nothing from the architect teacher.

No Comment!

Site ready for Foundations

We have pretty well achieved our main target for our visit and that was to get the site ready for the builders to prepare the foundations.

Here are some photos of our two diggers and their helpers.

This digger is great for off site work - just sprints across anything to clear a tree. And what an opportunity the driver had here!

But he missed them - too slow!

Having 2 diggers was great, and got most of the job done today.

Almost finished  - tomorrow we lay out the foundations

Rwandan Sights

 We were at the site all day today, and it was a great day for good photos. Here are a few. When we arrived at the site at 8am we were greeted with this view of our neighbours. They had organised about 60 workers to help build their wall

Many hands make light work

It was great to see just how much they achieved in a day, even though it was all by hand, and just hard wor - as you can see by the stone size they are carrying

Our bulldozer driver has returned, and we employed him most of the day. His machine continues to play up, as you can see by this photo. But he did a great job for us, and it was good to have him back on site. We also had another machine digging away which was great for getting most of the site finished.

Steam engine

And occasionally a person or car would pass with a long load!

Legal?

On the Edge

Its fascinating working in construction, and great to be able to photo people at work. There are many decisions that are made that people do not see and are often quite crucial.

These were taken yesterday (Thursday). There was lots of hanging around as we made sure that the machine driver, Norbert, got as much work done as possible. All seemed to go ok, though these photos show expressions of concern or tiredness. Read on

Rog on Edge

Rog is on edge because he has been out in the sun all day. He has been making sure that pegs in the ground are not obliterated because Norbert the supervising architect has become quite upset at the builders for not making sure that they remain in situ.

Rog also feels that Norbert is being rather harsh on Jeff the young builder, and agrees that we should not be removing the earth but rather leaving it onsite. Norbert however wants it removed and it is left to Macfarlane to make the final decision.

Jeff is on Edge

Jeff on the other hand is also on edge because he has had to spend lots of extra cash on lorries he did not intend to hire. He wants the best for the project and is absolutely doing his best, but he and the architects have not carefully assessed the implications of such a large amount of earth having to be moved.

Although his project manager Macfarlane has reassured him that he will get additional money to cover the expense, he may be on edge in case he does not get it. Also he is on edge because he does not have the cash to pay all the workers sufficient until his father arrives, and he is having to manage a machine driver who is not easy to control

Pascal on Edge

Pascal is on the edge because he works with a bulldozer driver who is great at his job when working but is not happy at having to work so hard. The Scottish project manager and architect are hanging around and he has no place to escape  - so he has to work harder for his money.

Norbert on the Edge

Norbert did  brilliant job on Thursday and we were really pleased. When we left at 5.15pm he immediately stopped work, complained at the rate of work he was having to do, wanted more pay, and was instantly sacked. In a huff he left for Uganda, and we suspect a planned drinking binge

I am disappointed because he really did a good job.

Today we had no machine and tomorrow a replacement comes - perhaps Rog and  I can get the previous one running and drive it ourselves since it is still on site!

I am always on edge because it is my nature, and I love it!

There is no photo of me on edge because I write the blog and I do not like photos of me on the edge!!!

The main reason for me being on edge is that I want to make the team work well when I am away from Rwanda, cannot bear when peoples personalities lead to friction, and when their bad decisions cause distress to themselves and others.

The Edge - its where life is!

The Platform

These are just some of my photos as the platform starts to develop. We have 2 more days to get it level and to lay out the College position

Pascal

Onto lower level

Here the platform is well under way but with still a very big amount of earth to move. Hopefully tomorrow we will get the levelling done, and Saturday will be tidying up.

End of Day

Lorries we need Lorries!

The day started with me having a anxiety attack. Apart from having a nightmare about Don having injured his knee just before the Scottish Seniors (which is true by the way), I woke with thoughts of various disasters about our College platform.

You see we had calculated that we had to shift 150 cubic metres of earth and create a 4 metre retaining wall. I was worried about the neighbours and the chaos we were about to unleash. We had decided that we had better try to remove the piles of earth by lorry.

You know the film 'Field of Dreams', where there is a large windy road in the distance, and he waits for lots of cars to come and see a baseball match, and the owner is told by his daughter  - 'they will come'.

Well today I sat watching a long windy road across from our field, until the lorries came, and then they sure did come  - 42 of them over 3 hours

Queuing to get in

Despite our best attempts we agreed to call off the lorries because of the cost - it looked like it would cost an additional £5000 to remove all the material. So we are keeping it on site. This afternoon teh machine driver worked tirelessly to get as much of the platform down to the correct level - not an easy task

Home from School in the Rain

I spied these 4 coming up the Nonko Road beside the College site.

The children are (right to left) Justice, Mano, and Analees. I love their smart uniforms, their bright faces, and the big brollie.

Because we were on site all day, my office was a wall beside this road. I had to complete the construction agreement, while Roger made sure that the platform was made properly.

While I was sitting all the school children walked passed. There were muslim girls going dow, the hill, and primary school children going up hill. Great to see the College is positioned really central for them.

They would come past in a group of 3 or 4, and the less embarrassed would come across to shake my hand. You see in Rwanda they are still not used to someone in white skin, and there is much fun in touching someone who is so different from them.

So today I shook about 20 hands, and the rest just smiled, sniggered or waved, but all were friendly. The typical greeting is Good Morning, but when its 4pm some English language correction is encouraged.

Tomorrow is a public holiday so it will be much quieter, but the work on the platform for the College goes on.

Camera Reveals All

Roger has decided that he quite likes this photo stuff, and has produced one of the incredibly small disks with incriminating evidence of my various facial expressions.

Lost each other

Negotiating 10p off our journey

Esther and Gary

Paul and Gary

Bob Cowan has unfortunately shown I am very prone to providing sorrowful shots. Plans for the Scottish Seniors is for a frownless weekend!

Bulldozer springs a leak

We are not being very lucky with our bulldozers. The one hired yesterday did not even get to the site - big end in Remera!

This one worked very well for 2 hours until smoke started to come from an electrical box. I saw flames from a wire at one point. That was actually sorted quite quickly but then there was an hydraulic leak and that stopped us for 2 hours until the mechanic came along.

This photo shows the exasperation with everyone climbing on and trying to lend hand to get it going!

Look at Me

We have really found Jeff a delight to work with. He loves joking and banter. On this occasion he is looking down at his shirt because Roger has made some comment. Probably about the fact that he did not like it being green!

Whats wrong with Green?

Of course having started the banter we then had to investigate the message, which in fact was about colour, and basically said that it does not matter whether you are blue or green, its just good to live together and enjoy each others fun and banter

Could not agree more - though others is actually brothers!

 Shirts often have messages, sometimes to get you to show an interest in the wearer, and other times to get a message across. Mostly they let us know something about ourselves.

Today there were many other people on the site trying to get noticed, and all looking for employment, like these 4. One was a local that had already been given a job, and the others were just hoping.

Building companies do not have to advertise, and labourers do not apply for jobs her in Rwanda. You just see work and come. If you need a tradesman or technician then just go across the road and ask them if they want work.

Look at us - we need a job

Its eyeball interviewing, and assessment is made by Kayitare with a deep stare into the heart of the person to see if they are hard workers and worth paying. Laying off is just as quick - if you do not come up to the mark then there is no employment tomorrow!

A great system - no paperwork - just pay for hard work!

Termites Terminated by the Terminator

There has been a wee accident on the site.

Having received a 52 page EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report about all the leaves we might upset with our bulldozer, we have brutalised nature and in particular the termites and their homes. I for one am delighted - until of course they come seeking refuge in our College.

The terminator

The man responsible, Kayitare the builder, is to be known from now on as the terminator. Jeff his son seemed quite pleased with this nickname.

Here he is surveying his demolition works with the termite homes behind. Evidence of the demolition is here:

Well thats the price you have to pay for progress. For those insect lovers I can only apologise, and reassure you that we have personally provided a home for every one of the creatures we have made homeless.

College Progress