No, a village that doesn't have running water or electricity does not have a concrete mixer. Yes we needed concrete... how did we do it?
During our service project, after digging the holes for the posts of the fence, we then need to put the posts in and make sure they will be sturdy enough to last quite a while. To do this, we are putting them in with concrete. To make the concrete we can use, we take 6 buckets of sand, 4 buckets of small rocks, 1 bag of cement and about 4 buckets of water (which we have to get from the water pump next door) and pour them all together, on top of each other, on the ground in the corner of the school yard. With our only two shovels, we then take turns "mixing our ingredients together": shovelling from the bottom of the pile and dumping it on top again and again until it actually becomes something we can use.
It dried quickly though, so we would divide everything we mixed into separate buckets and one person (which was me) went around mixing each portion of concrete with a metal rod to make sure it didn't dry before we could use it. When they need it, we fill the bottom of the hole with rocks and a bit of concrete, followed by the post, then around the base (still in the hole) a layer of rocks then a layer of concrete then a layer of rocks and so on until the hole was filled. We then double-check to make sure the posts are straight and move on to the next one. If we run out, we make more.
It took so long (about 4 hours for 12 posts) because we were being careful and making sure we were doing it right. We all agree that we would rather do it properly slowly than quickly and in a way that is unsustainable and will end up falling soon. So, by the end of the first day of working on our project, we have 12 holes dug with posts in and concreted and 13 holes dug with posts ready.
We decided to do some holes then put their posts in, then some more holes then put their posts in rather than all the holes then all the posts to make sure that if it rains it doesn't ruin any of the holes we already dug. I think this is a good idea, but if it rains tonight we still have those 13 holes that could potentially be damaged. We will see.
Just in general though: this is hard work! It's only the first day and all seven of us all already have at least 4 blisters each, everyone (except for me) is sunburnt, we've all been eaten alive by mosquitos and today, I've sweat more than I ever have in my life: and that's saying something because I live in the middle of the desert. But no, I'm not complaining, because somehow, we are all still happier than ever. We're helping other people and that's what counts.
LM
During our service project, after digging the holes for the posts of the fence, we then need to put the posts in and make sure they will be sturdy enough to last quite a while. To do this, we are putting them in with concrete. To make the concrete we can use, we take 6 buckets of sand, 4 buckets of small rocks, 1 bag of cement and about 4 buckets of water (which we have to get from the water pump next door) and pour them all together, on top of each other, on the ground in the corner of the school yard. With our only two shovels, we then take turns "mixing our ingredients together": shovelling from the bottom of the pile and dumping it on top again and again until it actually becomes something we can use.
It dried quickly though, so we would divide everything we mixed into separate buckets and one person (which was me) went around mixing each portion of concrete with a metal rod to make sure it didn't dry before we could use it. When they need it, we fill the bottom of the hole with rocks and a bit of concrete, followed by the post, then around the base (still in the hole) a layer of rocks then a layer of concrete then a layer of rocks and so on until the hole was filled. We then double-check to make sure the posts are straight and move on to the next one. If we run out, we make more.
It took so long (about 4 hours for 12 posts) because we were being careful and making sure we were doing it right. We all agree that we would rather do it properly slowly than quickly and in a way that is unsustainable and will end up falling soon. So, by the end of the first day of working on our project, we have 12 holes dug with posts in and concreted and 13 holes dug with posts ready.
We decided to do some holes then put their posts in, then some more holes then put their posts in rather than all the holes then all the posts to make sure that if it rains it doesn't ruin any of the holes we already dug. I think this is a good idea, but if it rains tonight we still have those 13 holes that could potentially be damaged. We will see.
Just in general though: this is hard work! It's only the first day and all seven of us all already have at least 4 blisters each, everyone (except for me) is sunburnt, we've all been eaten alive by mosquitos and today, I've sweat more than I ever have in my life: and that's saying something because I live in the middle of the desert. But no, I'm not complaining, because somehow, we are all still happier than ever. We're helping other people and that's what counts.
LM
