Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Progress and Hard Work

Two men close in on the final meters of the fence foundation.

Doing a funded project is always a gamble for Peace Corps volunteers. The problem that often plagues such projects is when a village appropriates money for personal use instead of project materials. With construction nearly finished, Katrina and I are proud to say that the people of Ogaro have not squandered one African CFA. That’s not to say however, there have not been challenges equaling their accomplishments. With this is mind, let’s start with the tough news.

Our most profound problem, I imagine, is that we have too much water in our well. But that’s just one angle. The other angle is we don’t have enough water. It’s a complex, ironic problem with many ifs, nots, and what have you’s. We first hit water at a depth of six meters. The water turned out to come from superficial sources, which could disappear during a harsh dry season. A few more meters were needed to ensure a year around water source. When we continued digging however, water raced in at a great speed. No matter how fast water was drawn from the well, the force of nature prohibited any further digging. This situation gridlocked the project momentarily. Disagreements over how to dig ensued. Katrina and I were even chastened for not sacrificing a rooster when the digging began. A few people suggested this lack of bloodshed was without doubt the problem, (No one told us about any chicken until after the fact. We're always up for a sacrificial offering). Good news does seem to be coming our way. We have just received information that five trained well technicians from our regional capital are coming to finish the job at an agreeable price.


Wet and muddy, a man struggles to keep pace with the water gushing in on all sides.

Our second problem has been project costs. Despite painstaking efforts of second, third, and forth opinions on the material costs, we were well short in projecting the amount of cement and reinforcement cables for our fence. This necessitated a new request for funds, which is pending. Currently, we are short seven-hundred dollars. If you or anyone you know would be interested in donating towards this project, click on Donate Now at the left of the page. Luckily, this shortage of money has not caused any significant delay in construction. Slow and steady, we’ve been making progress.

As a rule for Peace Corps Partnerships, the community must contribute 25% of all project costs. With a large-scale project such as ours, this leaves a sizeable chunk for Ogaro. In order to fulfill their end of the deal, each of the five villages will contribute 80,000 CFA, totalling 400,000 CFA (around 800 US dollars). This amount of money coming out of their pockets is remarkable. The president of the village development committee will either hold a meeting or simply walk from household to household in order to gather funds. While each village’s system varies slightly, most put a fixed amount on each adult male and female head (500 CFA for men, 300 CFA for women, for example). In our case, contributions have been spread out over six months, with families offering their humble earnings of 100 CFA (20 cents) per month. But money is not all they have given.

The second and equally important role of Ogaro is to “pay” the difference with manual labor. Perhaps most impressive to me was the journey the sand and gravel to mix with the cement took to get to our site. Roughly eight miles from Ogaro is a small river. For two days, the villagers left en masse and walked to the river with large basins, shovels, and picks. Basin after basin of sand was dug from the river bank and then hauled on top of women's heads around fifty yards to where it would easily accessible for the truck to load. Next to the river, solid rocks beds were broken to pieces with their picks, creating the necessary gravel. They dug, piled, and transported a total of fourteen truck loads, measuring at least one ton per load. It seizes to amaze how tough everyone here is.

A worker takes a brief rest after the truck has returned from the river with another load of sand.

There has been much work done at the site itself. The work started with digging the well. Besides the first village digging the initial three meters, each proceeding village was in charge of digging one and a half meters, for a projected total of nine meters. As you might imagine, the deeper the well, the more painstaking the work. As I detailed earlier, the work is at times not rewarding, and always filthy.

For the fence, the five villages were in charge of digging 300 meters, measuring a foot deep and a foot wide. This was not an easy task. The compact, clay soil doesn't quite match Midwest standards. A pick is the only solution for digging. Blow after blow, grunt after grunt, each meter was dug. This was one area in which I was finally able to lend a hand, (my mother forbade me to be lowered down into the treacherous well). Skilled local masons, iron-workers, and carpenters are now finishing up laying all the bricks and reinforcement cables. The fence totals almost one-half of project costs. Without the fence, however, the project would be futile. Cows, goats, pigs, and donkeys scrounge for any vegetation during the dry season. In order to ensure the center stands strong in the future, we have taken all possible measures to avoid any possible feasting on the animals' part.


Water is poured out from the well. Bucket by bucket, work continues.

This month, the rainy season will begin. People will spend all their time in the fields, and the dry, dusty landscape will soon be transformed into verdant fields and pastures. Our tree nursery will start in conjunction with the rains. Trees will vary from mango trees to soil-replenishing trees to cashew trees. Gardening will be staggered. Due to the power of the rains here, only a few plants can survive during rainy season. It's not until the end of rainy season—near September—that garden season will be in full force.

As the days pass, this project comes to life more and more. To date, Ogaro has not seen any return from their work. They have spent myriad days working their tails off. During these next three months, Ogaro will see this project begin to bud with tangible pay-offs. A new update on the project will be posted at the end of next quarter, some time in early July. Thank you all again for your contributions and God bless.