so for the past 3 days now we've started building the walls of our pit toilet.. morning starts with pushing wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow loaded up with bricks, sand, 50kg of concrete and water to the pit until we've got enough to make a good amount of mix, then the sand, concrete and water is churned up in big, heavy shovelfuls until a decent mortar is formed. we form a chain down the ladder passing the bricks one by one to the bottom of the pit where they're stacked, then a big bucket full of cement is lowered to the ground. and pretty much that's the most exciting part of the day.. from then on, only 2 people can fit in the bottom of the pit with our helper dude Hamisi (a bricklayer from the community) and the rest of us just sit around the top of the hole passing time until it's time to swap over.
truth be told, i had an absolute blast on the first day (: i was keen to continue with our project, learn a new skill and most of all get my hands absolutely covered in thick, goopy cement.. i personally love thick mud and the consistency of the mortar is absolutely perfect.. it just oozes and squelches between your fingers and makes the most satisfying splattering sound when you slop it onto the stones. i was told my bricklaying was awesome and got called a gremlin by matt because i refused to get out of the hole for the first day.. i clambered out bespattered in gunk with a big 3-yr old smile on my face, the wall now 3.5 bricks high (:
from then on, i've gotta say it's gotten a little monotonous. i'd gotten used to the relentless pace of digging, the sense of purpose and the teamwork it required with everyone involved from start to finish. i'm finding myself getting quite restless and impatient at the whole deal, so much so that by today (the third day) after my hour and a half shift in the pit and a now 8-brick deep wall, a few of the girls opted for our team taking the afternoon off work because we were literally going mental just sitting around in the sun. not to mention that hamisi has turned out to be a little creepy.. i'd gotten an off vibe from him after the first day and the first shift that jane and i had in the pit, after about 3mins of conversation he started recounting in vivid detail that he'd found his wife in his bed with his best friend and that he was trying to track her down to punish her, then started asking us how old we were etc.. and although that might not sound that bad we were both pretty uncomfortable from then on, especially in such a cramped space underground where we can literally taste each others' sweat. to make matters worse, he had a tear in his shirt right at his nipple (which is really really unusually big) and it was rubbing against us whenever he turned around. awkward. i feel slack because he's doing a good job and all, i just.. yeh am not quite as keen as i once was to get into the pit now.
evenings since tuesday have been occupied with watching movies on my laptop and everyone kind of kickin it around camp.. i'm glad the 2-monthers have returned tonight as the camp is so much more alive again and we're all excited for a big weekend out and at the beach.. i'm starting to wonder if i should've done 2 months as opposed to 3 as the only difference between our two programs are that we've paid just over 2K more and are spending more weeks in a row doing construction at muhaka.. i'd thought we'd also be spending more time at other camps and projects but that's not actually the case.. their program has more variety, less monotony and i would've gotten back to sydney in time for my birthday and defqon.. but hey, everything happens for a reason and i guess i'll be learning different things with the choices i've made. i'm just not really looking forward to the 3-monthers remaining alone at camp next week for more bricklaying day in and day out..
trying to be positive as i'm still in africa and this is fucking awesome, but i think the initial excitement has died down a little now that i'm familiar with the place and seeing the full 3-month planner has kind of put things into another perspective.. tomorrow is beach and clubbing and i couldn't be more keen.
p.s. the wall is since much taller, i'm just waiting til monday for another update photo
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