Well, here it is, at long last, part one of my final post about Africa. I am in Wales at my friends' place (Kevin & Rowan). I arrived last Wednesday and have since been basically relaxing, playing with the kids (Elsa, my goddaughter, and Freja). It's cold, rainy, windy and just plain damp here - I feel right at home! It's really nice to be with good friends, who are like family, after 5 weeks of going from place to place and staying in hostels and guesthouses. I am starting to get into the holiday spirit now that I am no longer in a tropical part of the world. I went to a couple Christmas craft fairs and have been writing Christmas cards to send back home. The girls have colds, so I have appointed myself the snotty nose wiper...good times...good times...
Okay, I will try to convey, as thoroughly as possible, my experience of building a wall in the desert. But first, just a quick overview of the project, to provide context. We were on a two week work program with Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA). It is a small, grassroots organization that was set up to respond to situations where farmers and elephants end up in conflict, because elephants looking for water often damage wind mills and water tanks. The farmers see the elephants as a nuisance and often shoot them (which is illegal). EHRA educates the farmers on how to coexist with the elephants and then offers to build walls around water points. Part of the plan involves providing the elephants with an alternative water source, while protecting the tank, reservoir, wind mill, etc. EHRA is funded by the volunteers who pay to participate in this project.
Okay, I will try to convey, as thoroughly as possible, my experience of building a wall in the desert. But first, just a quick overview of the project, to provide context. We were on a two week work program with Elephant Human Relations Aid (EHRA). It is a small, grassroots organization that was set up to respond to situations where farmers and elephants end up in conflict, because elephants looking for water often damage wind mills and water tanks. The farmers see the elephants as a nuisance and often shoot them (which is illegal). EHRA educates the farmers on how to coexist with the elephants and then offers to build walls around water points. Part of the plan involves providing the elephants with an alternative water source, while protecting the tank, reservoir, wind mill, etc. EHRA is funded by the volunteers who pay to participate in this project.
Our group was quite eclectic: There were 14 volunteers, ranging in age from 20 to 64. There were 9 Brits, 2 Canadians (us), 1 German, 1 Norwegian and one woman from Singapore who lives in Switzerland. We had, among others, 2 journalists, 2 lawyers, a shepherd, a bookie, a retired doctor, a risk manager and a music composer. What a potent mix of talent, skill and experience!! We had many fascinating, lively and sometimes heated conversations around the campfire (no pun intended). And the jokes and hilarity were rampant! I laughed a lot!On Monday, November 9, we arrived at base camp (one of the coolest places I had ever been), after a 4 hour drive from Swakopmund. The tour and orientation revealed that our sleeping quarters were basically a tree fort!! How cool is that? The toilets were also quite interesting (photo-worthy for my collection of toilet pictures), as were the showers. Before dinner, we were given the safety briefing and overview of the upcoming week. We learned the difference between the scorpions that are dangerous and those that are deadly. We were told all about the various spiders and snakes that live in the desert. "Before putting your boots on in the morning, shake them upside down to make sure nothing is hiding in them. Shake your bedding and your clothing, if you have left them out over night. When you lift a rock, tilt it with the opening away from you so that anything that might be underneath it, runs away from you rather than towards you. When you put a log on the fire, stay clear of the end that is not in the fire, since anything that may be hiding in the wood will run away from the fire". We were told to let one of our leaders know right away if we are bitten by by something, as they have a device that sucks out poison and could save our lives. At one point I remember thinking "I hope I live to post a blog entry about the next couple weeks". After the briefing Dave, one of our two leaders, asked if anyone wanted to bail at this point...no one did.
Our Tree Fort Accommodation
A Room With a View
Fantastic Outdoor Showers
One of Two Bathrooms
Fantastic Outdoor Showers
One of Two Bathrooms
The Tool Shed at Base Camp
Dry River Bed at Sunset - Base Camp
We left early the next morning to begin work. After driving for an hour and a half, we arrived at our work site and we set up camp about a quarter of a mile away. Home, for the next 4 days, would consist of a couple tents (one for food and another for our bags and personal belongings), a plastic folding table (the kitchen/meal prep. area) and two large tarps on the ground. Bed would be a sleeping bag, on a bed roll, on the tarp, under the stars. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, on more than one occasion, looking up at the sky and thinking "Wow, I'm in Africa. This is the African sky!".
Essentially our day was structured as follows: We would be woken up at 6:00 am with a coffee/tea brought to our bed...nice way to wake up...breakfast...then at the work site by 7:00 - 7:15. Break at 10:00 ish for about 20 minutes, then lunch from 12:00 ish to 2:30 (during the hottest part of the day). Return to work at 2:30 until about 5:00. Dinner and relaxing, chatting, hanging out until bed time at 9:00 - 9:30. During our lunch/siesta time, we would eat and then most of us would have a little snooze. It was a strange, unusual experience to go to bed and get up so early (for me), sleep in the middle of the day, after an exhausting, sweltering morning of hard labour and then wake up and go back to labouring in the desert heat. Keep in mind that during the work week, there were no showers or bathing facilities. Most of us used wet wipes (baby wipes) at the end of the day to get rid of the worst of the dirt. My hair closely resembled a rat's nest for the entire week. Sweat and sand do not mix well with hair.
The tasks involved in building the wall were, essentially, mixing cement by hand - no machines(10 parts sand to two parts cement and a bucket of water), going out in the truck on rock picking expeditions, lifting/carrying huge 30 pound rocks, slapping cement onto rocks and filling up buckets of water at the animal trough. Sound easy? Well, it wasn't...remember, 45 degree heat, sun so hot I could feel it burning through my clothes, an unlimited supply of sand and dirt to get into my mouth, under my nails, in my ears, in my eyes...and my throat usually felt like it had become the desert. Oh, and most of the time there was a water pump about 3 feet from our heads that was very loud and spewed noxious fumes and black smoke. By lunch, my back would be killing me and every muscle in my legs and arms would be aching. I did lots of stretching in order to keep from seizing up. It was probably the hardest physical work I have ever done in my life. Overall, however, despite everything I just described, it was a life-enhancing experience!! I got to know some wonderful people, learned many new skills, did something I'd never done before, pushed myself beyond my comfort zone and experienced a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Stay tuned for Part Two: The Elephants!
The tasks involved in building the wall were, essentially, mixing cement by hand - no machines(10 parts sand to two parts cement and a bucket of water), going out in the truck on rock picking expeditions, lifting/carrying huge 30 pound rocks, slapping cement onto rocks and filling up buckets of water at the animal trough. Sound easy? Well, it wasn't...remember, 45 degree heat, sun so hot I could feel it burning through my clothes, an unlimited supply of sand and dirt to get into my mouth, under my nails, in my ears, in my eyes...and my throat usually felt like it had become the desert. Oh, and most of the time there was a water pump about 3 feet from our heads that was very loud and spewed noxious fumes and black smoke. By lunch, my back would be killing me and every muscle in my legs and arms would be aching. I did lots of stretching in order to keep from seizing up. It was probably the hardest physical work I have ever done in my life. Overall, however, despite everything I just described, it was a life-enhancing experience!! I got to know some wonderful people, learned many new skills, did something I'd never done before, pushed myself beyond my comfort zone and experienced a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Stay tuned for Part Two: The Elephants!
The Wall Goes Up
Lizanne Mixing Cement
Lizanne and Me After a Hard Day's Work
Goats at the Trough
On Our Last Day we Got to Have a Trough Shower
The Wall is Two Thirds Done and Our Time is Over
My Boots and Gloves at the End of Building Week
They all remained in Africa
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