The masons started pouring the floor in the training center this morning! Oh! Happy Day! We are so excited! Of course we had a disagreement with Mr. Dawda this morning. He was insisting on adding the termite dirt to the cement and gravel and we were insisting that he did not add it! The problem with adding the termite dirt is that it makes the cement soft and we want the floor to be very hard. The advantage of adding the termite dirt is that it makes the cement smooth and it is easier for the masons to smooth out the top of the cement without having to work so hard. He said that it would take more time and we would have to pay more day laborers. We told him that we were paying for the day labor so we did not care to pay for an extra day. He said the men will be tired. Oh! It was just one excuse after another. Finally he said that he could use more cement and make it smooth. We jumped on that idea because we want to use enough cement to make the floor strong. We told him that we didn’t even want the floor to be glassy smooth because if the floor gets wet (after all it is an open air pavilion) it will be slippery and someone might fall! In the end they are not using any termite dirt and the floor is not perfectly smooth. They have gotten about ¾ of the floor poured; the floor is 3 inches thick.
It is amazing that the men can mix that much cement by hand on the ground; they count out the wheelbarrows of gravel/sand and then add the appropriate number of bags of cement (today they mixed 13 bags at a time); they mix the dry sand / gravel with the cement; and then they spread the mixture out into a dam with walls to hold the water in until they get ready to mix. The ladies start dumping in the water. When enough water is added 6 or 7 men start mixing with shovels. Once the cement is mixed they haul it into the building wheel barrow by wheelbarrow full. These people are beasts!
Dawda hired more day laborers today; today 6 women, 10 men plus Mr. Iddrisu and Donkey were working. Dawda asked us to pay the men extra today because they worked so hard. Today they got 70 Cedis each which is about $6.50 which is 3x the minimum wage.
Amama did not come to work again today; if you remember her uncle/adopted father died. According to tradition the widows cannot feed themselves until seven days after the funeral is finished. Amama has to stay with the widows and cook for them during their mourning period. I say widows because Amama’s uncle was a polygamist and had several wives. She will not be able to come back to work until next Monday; the Child Center will be closed on Monday because it is a holiday! Please!
Have a good day!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
P.S. Our friend Floyd is having heart surgery as I am writing. Please keep him and the doctors in your prayers through surgery and especially during recovery.
