There is no cyclone now, and my weather app shows sun. Then why this sudden downpour? All work has stopped again. The women who came to cut grass are sheltering in the office and snacking. The mud is squelchy and eager to trap anyone or anything who dares set foot on it.
Yesterday was the excavator’s last day of work for phase one. All the trenches have been dug, and most of the mud shifted. After ten days or so, it will come back to put back the mud from the trenches and mix it with the manure and perforating materials. It’s a relief to be done with this big, expensive machine, at least for now!
An engineer is visiting tomorrow and will help us design the rainwater harvesting and irrigation system – including underground cisterns, pipes, streams, and a pond, and the roads and paths through the land. I am very excited about this step.
(left) Partial view of the site from the office building.
We have brought in four women from the village to cut all the kasha grass on the site. There is so much of it; if we can cut and dry it all, it can work very well in the trenches or even as mulch
We are putting up two tents to protect the cowdung manure once it’s made. This morning the tractor distributed the straw around the site, so that it would be easily available to each trench.
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