Installment 27

Installment 27
The day finally came! After 6 weeks of “we’re just about ready”, I was able to tell Jeff that we would be starting to clear the land for the clinic. “But I haven’t seen any pigs flying” says Jeff. I told him that aerodynamically speaking, pigs would have a difficult time flying. “Didn’t you say a couple weeks ago that you thought pigs would probably be flying before we actually started building?” he craftily chides me. “I think that was your comment.” I volleyed. “was not”….”was too”….”not”….”too”….”not”….”too” And without any adult supervision this went on for quite awhile…until we both slinked off, each thinking how immature the other was….and Jeff really is! Anyway, with the contract signed, the ‘Fundi’ (contractor) came yesterday and proclaimed that the excavation would start at 8:00 am. I mentioned that I hadn’t seen any heavy equipment recently and asked “diesel or gasoline?” “Ugali” said Fundi. Just then about 20 men came around the corner…still chewing on what I can only guess was ugali. Because of the high glue content, it is idea for manual laborers as they don’t have to stop for lunch….just keep chewing. Fundi told the men to act like they didn’t speak any English if I talked to them. Which is fine with me, because after reading some of my previous blogs, I’m not sure I speak English either. With that they set out. I mean really, “set out”. That’s what they call establishing the parameters of the building and excavation lines. They used the corners that Dale had set and started pulling strings. Soon, Fundi lined the men up and said “Enda.” I said “no, you mean ‘starta‘.” I didn’t see it, but somewhere in the contract it must have specified ‘Contractors’ use of ‘Jeff’s look’, because Fundi used it perfectly. Strangely, ‘enda’ in Swahili means ‘go’….which then he turned to me, pointed and said “ENDA”….and because the men all had shorthandled heavy hoes, I thought I’d give them some room to work. They call the hoes….not the ghetto slang type by the way, ‘jembas’. Might be jimba, but it is the primary digging instrument here. No picks and only a few shovels….they move dirt, grass, cow dung, and evidently any mzungu that happen to misunderstand ‘enda’. I’ll try to get a couple of pics up tomorrow when we go to English Lady’s. I can’t tell you how different the building techniques are here, without showing my total ignorance, so I won’t. But what would take one man and one machine a few hours to do, it took 20 men two days. Fundi says we are on schedule. So, the clinic site is ready for the many trenches that need to be dug…about 3 feet deep, and we also have dorm #1 site cleared and ready for ‘set out’. The rumor is that if I stay at least 50 meters from the site, we will be pouring cement footings by Thursday. There is a ton of detail yet to get organized, but I’ll get it, or my name isn’t Safarislim….oh wait??? Should be tons and tons of sand, rock, cement, and building stones here by the end of next week….I’m a little concerned about throwing the earth out of balance with all the weight here. And somehow, we have found a couple of outlets that have enough timber for us…I think God is at work again.
It took awhile, but Dorcas’s mom got back to her family and is hopefully safe. Turns out that a woman has been ‘renting’ her out to men and had hidden her…but she was rooted out and now has been returned to her family near Nairobi. Of course, nothing will happen to the woman….even though Mama Dorcas has mental problems. On a happy note, Riziki is doing really well and smiles quite abit…and Dorcas is still gaining weight, but still looks like a new born, but is becoming much more active. For now, the various diseases and stuff are at a minimum. With 93, there will always be some on medicine, but God has been gracious and the health here is good.
After the Gold Bond incident, I have been careful to move my Preparation H to another location….not being sure what it would do to my tongue.