Tank Construction - Day One

It is time to start working. With that in mind, I figured, "what better way to start working then by working?". Brilliant, right? So, Tuesday morning, I decided to head with the guys from my community to the site of our water project to get an honest days work in. We hiked the mile or so to the neighboring community, and trevased a 350 meter foothill to its peak where the water tank will be constructed. I was glad that the walking for the day was done - or was it?

Over my shoulder came the sounds of either a 1970's dirt-loading truck, of a T-Rex. Whatever it was, it defintily sounded pre-mid 1980's.*


*Everyone knows that dinosaurs became extinct then same day that David Bowie's album, The Best of Bowie, was released in December of 1980.




























Sure enough, it was a truck halling a load of dirt. Something peculair happend, the truck stopped before hitting the top of the hill. It stopped a little short, about 400 meters short to be exact. The gaunlet was set, and for 7 hours we hauled bags of dirt of the hill. A thirty minute lunch break, a few water breaks, and the sun burning my neck all day - we were done. The only thing I can compair this type of manual labor to is the donkey that is used to walk people up and down the Grand Canyon.

It was a hard day, and I topped it off by hitting the late mass in town that day - where I proceded to thank God for helping me survivor the days labor.

I learned a lot. The day started off with me as the white volunteer. By lunch, the guys were making fun of me. And by the end of the day, I had their respect for working with them and keeping up with the pace. For a short time, there were no color boundaries, no differences in life experience. We were just people from a community trying to haul dirt up a hill so that in the future we can drink clean water - and because of that, every hard step I took up and down that hill was worth it!