Coupenators

09/13/05

We measured it out this morning, and then dug the holes for the posts (no shovels, so we took turns with a metal pole and our hands. 80 year old Mzee Elisha going to town with the pole and then dropping down to his knees to dig out the loose dirt with hands is quite a sight, let me tell you.)

It was dust on the inside of the UV filter. I cleaned the whole system and we're looking good.

Coupenators. The crew is Robert, Shikookoo, Jim, and Mzee Elisha. Mama Liz and Mabel stopped by to provide moral support. We are building a chicken coup. A big one, 6' x 18', to eventually house 300+ birds, as a small scale IGA with plenty of room for expansion, to support the Kanga Community Health Center and subsidize the basic needs of 20 OVCs and 18 PLWHAs. We measured it out this morning, and then dug the holes for the posts (no shovels, so we took turns with a metal pole and our hands. 80 year old Mzee Elisha going to town with the pole and then dropping down to his knees to dig out the loose dirt with hands is quite a sight, let me tell you.) Jim went with Mzee's panga to cut more posts. Tools and materials are really what we lack. In the morning there was four of us and just a jembe, hammer, and tape measure. Robert had to go borrow the pole we are using to dig. After we got the work flowing, Robert and I hopped a Matatu to Rongo to buy nails and tin sheets for the roof (tomorrow I'm going to Kisii to cash some travelers checks and buy some chicken wire.) Carrying 5 rolled tin sheets each on our shoulders, hiking up through Rongo towards the taxi stage, we were getting a lot of looks. The touts tried to over charge us for transporting the sheets, Robert was getting frustrated. I played two touts against each other, and we got the ride for 100/=. Two guys, who I thought were working for the Matatu, took the roll off my shoulder to load onto the roof. Half way through the process they told me it was 20/= each. I was pissed, I grabbed the roll back from them (despite the fact that it was pretty much on the roof already) and loaded it myself, making the little 'shame on you' clucking noise that every one here is so good at, causing bug laughs from our small audience. The guys looked at me like they would murder me if we crossed paths in a dark alley, so hopefully we wont. We got back and dropped the materials off. Not a lot of progress had been made. We broke for lunch. Back at 2:30. Which in African time could be anytime between now and sunset…

The after lunch session wasn't quite as productive. Our major problem is a lack of tools and materials, not initiative or drive. The Pastor showed up, which was nice, and he seemed to know what he was doing, which was good, but he worked slowly and in Luo, so I was never really sure what was holding things up. We didn't have a quality saw, so the Pastor started trimming our posts down to size with Mzee's panga. He built a fire and burnt the ground ends of the posts (I was told this hardens them against rot.) Then we started burying them. Building without cement… Work started to grind to a halt, Shikookoo and the Pastor were straightening things out and remeasuring, James went to tend his cattle, Robert was off looking for more wood, and Mzee had to go to a PTA meeting (not really PTA, but the same idea.) I started amusing myself with the camera and a bunch of kids that were hanging out watching. We played tag and I tried to teach them tic tac toe (unsuccessful, but they had a lot of fun saying tic tac toe. Try it. Its actually is a lot of fun.) They also have an old tire, which seems to be their normal source of joy, and they showed me the different games they played with it (including 'roll the tire' 'sit in the tire' and 'jump through the hole in the tire.')

At the end of the day, in a light and refreshing rain, I met Peter (the husband of one of the Kanga Primary teachers, who incidentally live on the school compound, it is near their living quarters that we are erecting the chicken coup.) Peter has been farming poultry for 25 years and was a wealth of information on the subject, so I enlisted his help. He told me where to get the rest of the materials for cheap in Kisii and agreed to come talk figures and give advice tomorrow at Mama Liz's at 5pm (he was scheduled to come by at 6pm to give our birds here their vaccinations, so it seems to be a bit of serendipity.) I'm glad we've got a master aboard. Tomorrow our crew will be back at it, and hopefully they are productive while I am away. Hopefully we will be done by Thursday.

When I got back they had water for me to bathe ("because we know you've been working hard." Which is only partially true. Although I was filthy.) It was strange to be pouring warm water over my head while a cold drizzle fell from the pink clouds.

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