Bula! This is Kelly (i.e. keli keli) posting... and the title is a bit of an exaggeration- but pretty close to our experience! We are learning firsthand that we can design a perfect project in the U.S. but when you actually get on-site, you have to adjust a bit. Luckily we have been able to add to our project scopes, rather than downsize them! All the villagers are working so hard that we are working faster and more effectively then we imagined. In Vunikura, 400 more meters of pipe will be installed then we planned; in Loa, all the leaks from the tank to the village and in the village will be fixed. In Buca, the entire in-village distribution system has been dug up by the extremely strong and capable Buca villagers- so instead of just replacing the main 4-inch pipeline, we are replacing the entire system! However, this has meant some late night and early morning design sessions to try to route the new system in a effective and clean way. This week was a big week in Buca- after a wonderful pipe cleaning and gluing workshop by Shakeel on Thursday, we actually started putting some pipes (and tees- angled correctly!) into the ground on Friday morning. It was incredibly gratifying to see how much the villagers appreciated the pipes and the workshop, and how they were all working together on Friday to put the pipe in the ground. Hopefully next week the projects will start to be on 'cruise control'- and we will merely be acting as quality control. This method of working is great for everyone- and we are not merely giving Buca a new pipeline- we have the opportunity to teach them skills so they can give themselves a pipeline. Additionally, they are invested in the pipeline and know exactly the location of every lateral, so they can troubleshoot and repair future problems themselves.
In Savusavu yesterday we ordered even more pipe and materials from our hardware guy Gulabdas- and we are confident that we have enough time to finish the expanded projects by the end of the implementation trip!
I will be leaving Tuesday morning and will be back in the Bay Area in the afternoon, so I can finally upload photos of the construction and the villagers, along with photos of our lodgings. I will miss all of the people in Buca Bay who have been so welcoming! I might even miss the dinner plate sized spiders, cockroaches, moths and leaf bugs...(ok, slight exaggeration on the size- except the leaf bug- we saw a leaf bug as large as my forearm!!)...
See everyone at home soon (Sototale)!
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