Building Challenges

Friday, June 25

We had learned just before we arrived, that the plumbers hired to plumb our site had come and gone without doing the work. A plumbing contractor at IRD helped us inventory the materials for the project, and we learned that many of the materials on the list were not here. We've relayed the message to Joseph who is following up on the materials list and hunting down the workers to find out what happened.

Another blow—the 5000 L water tank delivered from Uganda arrived damaged. Something sharp and metal punctured a hole and cracked the plastic near the bottom. The plumber didn't think it could be repaired, but Maduk will try putting a metal plate outside and in. I'm trying to hunt down some epoxy which my husband suggested might help it hold the water in. Transportation companies here don't take responsibility for their deliveries arriving intact, it seems.

The aggregate for the concrete blocks for latrines and showers and the fence posts arrived by truck on Thursday before the rain. Then the Kenyan drivers freaked out and refused to go to the bush to retrieve our short poles and to pick up the load of sand. We're sharing the truck, which was hired by IRD. Another truck will arrive Monday or Tuesday to finish the work. I write this on Sunday and it's been dry and humid since the first rain.

Friday evening, Deng Sam Majok, the Duk Country Coordinator for SSRRC (Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission), came to meet with me. I first met him on our first visit in 2007. We discussed the ASAH project, and he requested an action plan and a job description for our project manager (not yet chosen), printed, by Saturday morning at 8 when he was leaving the village. So I was up late writing it, up early finishing it. Sam will circulate the job description to help us find the right person.