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katherine's community challenge |
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The build |
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Monday 3 April After a health and safety briefing at 7.15, we were driven to Wenamulla where the three houses Habitat for Humanity are building are. Wenamulla is about 400m from the sea. The second wave of the tsunami was about 10m high as it went through the village. 62 people from Wenamulla died and the village was almost completely wiped out. We split into three teams - ours headed by Nalinda. I was working with Jenny, Jill, Aidan, Andrew, Jean and Sharon. We first learned how to mix concrete to pour into the foundation trenches. All done by hand with proportions counted in numbers of shovelsful and numbers of headpans. Water was brought by Irin who will share the new house with her sister Rosalin. The concrete is mixed and turned by a pair of people working opposite each other - using a kind of see-sawing motion. I had a go at this but found twisting the shovel at the end of the stroke too hard - so left it to stronger people. We moved granite and placed the stones around the perimeter of the house. Once the concrete had hardened, we mixed some mortar and then started with a 1/2 inch layer on top of the concrete onto which we put the granite - big stones first then smaller ones, using mortar to fill in the gaps. Organising a human chain to pass the concrete or granite or mortar was the best way to move materials from one part of the site to another. There was no shade on site. |
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 The foundation trenches |  The foundation trenches |  The human chain |  The chain gang again! |  Me - looking glamorous while shovelling |
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We had lunch in the grounds of the Buddhist temple which is central to Wenamulla village. It was an hour's break which was much needed, even though we had taken plenty of water breaks in the morning. We'd also been given coconuts, a kind of cake ball made of rice, flour and coconut, and tea made with ginger - very sweet but lovely. The afternoon's work was relatively short as we had to be back at the hotel and out again. Near the houses we were working on were lagoons (big ponds) created, we were told, by excavation of coral to make lime. More ginger tea was produced and plenty more water breaks taken. The head mason, Somasiri and his apprentice, Mohammed, didn't seem to need to drink or have breaks. We were all glad to stop at 3.30 - I was physically exhausted, mainly from the heat I think. It was a rewarding day although standing back it didn't look as though much had been done - the foundation wall was not quite complete but Irin was smiling as we left. In the evening, we took a trip along the Madu Ganga river in very smelly motor boats - we saw a water monitor (horrid thing), herons and other birds, the huts where the prawn fishermen sit all night, nets across the river - I think for fishing. Apparently there are crocodiles on the river but we didn't see any. We had dinner at the 'Green Area' lit by paraffin torches - rice and curry and arrack cocktails. |
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 Foundations again |  Ready for mixing badama (mortar) |  Gill and Jenny taking a well-earned break |  The river trip |  Prawn fishing hut |
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Project Visit ::: Travels Around Sri Lanka ::: More info ::: Links ::: |
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