Crash Course in Hard Labuor

My first day at work started like most days... I got up late. After a cold jerry can shower (which wasn’t so bad when it’s warm), and egg-bread with a “medium-fat spread” (70% fat) I was off to the construction site for my first day of work. 

This was quite interesting as it was my first day of such work ever. I was given the task of filling in with cement, the gaps between the already laid bricks. We worked for pretty much a full day and completed 4 half-walls. I sucked at first but got the hang of it soon enough. I had done the wise thing of forgetting to put on sun screen and taking my nicer shorts and top but apart from the sunburn it worked out all right. 

Before - note the left side of the building

Just a pose. I'm too noob to be trusted with actually laying the bricks.

After - we did quite well!

Remember when your mother tells you to finish your food coz kids are starving in Africa? Well sometimes, there’s no guilt to be had here! After Cynthia and I failed to finish our lunch, we simply gave it to some local kids to eat :)

We finished up eventually and I wasn’t really that tired despite our progress. I did feel it the next day though... We walked back to town and I saw trees with actual bananas and coffee growing on them! Also took some photos of ants which bit me. Back in the local town, a kid approached me with some BBQ meat on skewers. It was to die for delicious. I remember hearing about this meat on the Uganda Bizzare Foods episode and the recommendation not to eat it. But I couldn’t resist trying and now will never resist buying.

I remember initially thinking that construction would not be the best use of my time but everyone (apart from the senior builder) who builds is a volunteer, whether they be local or foreign. So it's actually quite good. They are building a social centre which will have 2 class rooms, a health centre and 2 additional multi-purpose rooms. They have made a deal with the government that if they build this centre, a doctor will be sent there once a week to help out the local people.