17 Oct 2019
I slept better than any night so far, waking only once in the middle of the night--oddly when the power went off and my white noise devices (ceiling fan and air conditioning) stopped. I didn’t wake up again until shortly after 6am, then did my normal routine prior to breakfast.
At breakfast and along the way, team members were discussing the weekend plans. We were being expected to vacate our rooms and put all of our bags into one room for the two days we would be at Bardiya National Park, but many wanted to just keep their rooms and either pay the difference or asked why DWC wasn’t covering that cost. In the meantime, I confirmed--as we had suspected--that the negotiated price for the rooms didn’t just include breakfast, but also dinner and all of our bottled water every day. Both the hotel owner and Dinesh confirmed that verbally.
So, en route to our work place, I composed an email to DWC suggesting that, since all of the meals were included, which was a significant savings over expected costs, that they (DWC) pick up the costs of our rooms over the weekend as well as covering the cost of the additional single rooms we now had for Hal and Mark. I allowed Mike to pre-read the email before sending it and after a good suggestion on his part, I sent it on its way. (As I type this morning on 18 Oct, I’ve received approval for my plan as well as approval to buy any snacks and additional food needed for the team during our remaining time.
Today was going to be the big day for setting concrete rings into our four very wet septic pits. Each team went to their site and began work quickly. We were actually surprised at how well it went, too. Team 1 had their rings in quickly after fishing a very agitated rat from one pit. They had already set rock and gravel in the bottom the day before.
At our site, Mark went into the first pit and using a stick and the water line as a reference proceeded to use rocks to shim the bottom ring the Mike and team had installed the day before until it was level. We then used four people at a time with ropes around the rings to lower them into the pit. The process went smoothly, using the stick and rocks to continue shimming the rings and make sure we were vertical and very closely in the center of each pit.
Our local leader for the day (who had a very difficult name to pronounce, so we just called him “Yellow Shirt”) was a very strong young man with zero people skills. He had impressed Mike the day before as someone who considered us a hindrance to his work despite the fact that little was done when we weren’t on site and he simply couldn’t get ANY of the heavy-lifting or digging work done without us. He wouldn’t smile, wouldn’t try to communicate with any of us, and frankly was as ass. I told Sam, one of our very friendly, hard-working local folks with CPN who spoke some English that Yellow Shirt wasn’t very friendly and Sam just smiled and shrugged and said that that was just the way he was and that we all had to work with him. Oh well.
After the third ring was installed in the first pit, Yellow Shirt starting bleeding profusely just above his left ankle on the outside of his leg from two puncture wounds. I did not know what caused them. Nonetheless, I got out the first aid kit and with Debra’s help, we cleaned the wound with disinfectant wipes and applied a compress. Happily, the bleeding slowed fairly quickly. We sprayed with Bactine and applied a large band-aid to his leg. He was silent through the process. I then got out tape and wrapped it around his lower leg to keep the band-aid in place and asked Sam to tell him that we didn’t want him going into the water again today and that he should keep the would dry all day. Same relayed the message, Yellow Shirt responded to him, and then didn’t make any attempt to say anything to Debra or me. He just went back to work. No smile, no thanks, not even the simplest acknowledgement of our existence.
A few minutes later, Debra brought the compound’s wife and mother to me for treatment. She had badly cut the tip of her pointer finger on her left hand with something sharp (possibly a rice scythe?) and it was infected and dirty. We cleaned it up as carefully as we could with wipes and bactine--it had to hurt her terribly as the nail was nearly sliced down the middle--and then I carefully wrapped it with four band-aids and some tape. We again instructed her to keep it dry for at least a day. Meanwhile, we made a point to check on her again and encouraged her to go to the local free clinic for better treatment.
Despite this cultural clash, we got all of the rings in quickly. The first pit, though, needed another ring to protect it from monsoon waters and keep the rim firmly above ground, so we put in an order by phone with Sam’s help for the required ring as well as the two caps we knew we would need--one at each site.
We then left Debra and Grace to help with the concrete and installation of the structural rods for the latrine along with a few local workers. Mike, Mark, and I returned to Unako House and helped Team 1 haul sand and gravel to a large open pit where it would be mixed and used for the same installation at that site. We had heard that Team 1 also needed one additional ring, but that was not the case.
Once the 45 baskets of sand and gravel were hauled to the mixing site and the portland cement was added, Deb and team did some work dry-mixing along with a local woman, Sima. By then, though, groups of ornately dressed women were arriving for a large meeting at Unako House concerning women’s issues in the region--an event to which we were invited. We called for Grace and Debra to return for the event and Mark started to trot in that direction to get them. They were on their way, though.
We sat in the front left corner of the meeting on the second level of Unako House and were amazed to see about 200 women seated cross-legged on the floor, some with small children. They waited patiently in the heat chatting amongst themselves. It seemed clear that some groups were in what almost constituted uniforms--saris of identical design and decoration--that we presumed represented unique villages. Dinesh later told us that some had some from up to a three hour’s drive away and that many had walked more than an hour to attend the meeting.
The meeting started with some short speeches and then the local dignitaries sitting to our right were blessed with a red tika and given a sash that went around their necks. The same presentation was then held for each of us. All of us, though, were VERY dirty, straight from work. I was, in particular, at my dirtiest and felt terrible among all the finery.
Dinesh asked me to get up, move to the back of the room and take photos and in doing so I had to walk right down the middle of the 200, tip-toeing in my dirty boots between the amused (or shocked and stunned) women, hoping that I wasn’t dripping sweat or dropping dried mud on them as I passed.
Music started and three beautiful young ladies danced on a large red plastic tarp. They soon asked Debra, Grace, Deb, and Sue to join them, and Debra and Grace did so. Before long, the men were dancing, too, except for Hal, while I was happy to be taking photos and a video of the event from the back of the room.
The dancing done, at one point a local leader stood and said a few words, then I was motioned to the front to accept a small plaque showing the community’s appreciation for our work. I was just filthy, though. I said a couple of words of thanks and returned to my seat. At this point, we were asked to depart and we went out to the north, shaded side of the building for lunch while the meeting carried on.
Lunch was a rather unique roasted rice along with chicken in a mildly spicy yellow sauce--very good once again. We chatted over lunch and made plans for the afternoon. Our final ring was delivered as well as the needed to caps, so we off-loaded the cap at the first site and then delivered and installed the final ring and second cap to our site. Mike, Grace, and Debra stayed behind at that site to continue help with the latrine while Mark and I returned to Unako House. Once back, we joined with Hoot and were led by Hemraj to the third work site. Meanwhile, Team 1 was mixing concrete for the vertical rod installation led by Sima and Deb.
Dinesh said that third site was about 500 meters away, across the main road from Unako House. We walked with Hemraj and one other young man to the site that, according to Hoot’s GPS, was 0.88 miles or 1.4 kilometers away. We didn’t enjoy seeing the different countryside, though, including crossing a small stream that had many cattle grazing nearby.
When we arrived it was clear that we would be digging in an elevated area about five meters or so above any nearby water sources, ditches, or streams, so that made us optimistic. It took some time before we were cleared to work, though. Our local technical leader was quie.t but very nice and down-to-business. He and Hemraj staked out and marked the latrine as well as where the rings would go. We suggested that the rings be a little farther apart than in the thick, clay soil of the other locations as the mostly sand composition at this site worried us in terms of sidewall collapse. Hemraj explained that to our leader and he agreed. The pits would be a little over two feet apart.
Pleasantly, too, a young lady delivered three perfectly new Tata shovels complete with sharp points. We got to work quickly in the hot sun--zero shade or breeze--and also asked that Hemraj send a message back to Unako House asking that Mike and Grace be sent over to help.
Work went quickly in the much drier soil. The young lady and our tech lead dug the latrine foundation and placed river rock and dry concrete mix atop the rocks after staking it out with sticks and twine. We dug in teams of two: Hoot and Mark on the east side; Hemraj and me on the west. Both teams made good progress and we were happy to not have mud and thick clay. Mike and Grace arrived shortly thereafter and we shifted to three-person rotations, with Mike joining us and Grace on Mark and Hoot’s “team.” Our only obstacles were a few roots, the occasional gravel (that gave us a sense that this was a filled hill) and the oppressive heat that required us to rotate diggers frequently.
I decided that we would work until about 3:40, giving us time to walk back to Unako House to meet the others for departure. The digging seemed to get a little competitive,especially in the last few rotations when we were changing diggers at the same time, comparing depths, etc. By the time we finished, both holes were over five feet deep and almost six feet in some places. We’d kept good diameters all the way down, too. Hemraj said we were done as the pits only needed to be five feet deep here due to the elevation and dry soil--that was a most pleasant surprise.
We walked back and along the saw families winnowing rice and carrying bales of rice stalks along the road. Three girls were carrying big loads on their heads and asked if I would take their photo. I did some group shots and then did close-ups under the burden of the rice bales and was very happy with the result. They were practicing their English and giggling as they asked my name and where I was from--a great highlight to the day.
When we returned to Unako House, we were very impressed with the work of Team 1 that had four rods set in the concrete-molded corners as well as the squatter “toilet”, trap, and piping to the pits set--virtually complete, functionally at least. Debra suggested that as we drive out we go by the other site to see what Sam, Yellow Shirt, and the others had done since she had left (Note: she was not optimistic). We all agreed and shortly after 4pm we departed, headed south on the narrow farm road.
We were actually pleasantly surprised by what we found at Site 2. The work was comparable to Site 1 except that the toilet had not been placed and set, not the piping. The corners and vertical rods were in place, though, and it would be less than an hours work to catch up to Site 1.
The return that followed took us on backroads--about as backroad as possible in Nepal--and we emerged from the farmland and tight squeezes between fences and bamboo stands at the main river crossing bridge back to Lamahi. From there it was quick drive in.
This was probably my most exhausting and sweaty day. Mike and Mark agreed. We were as fatigued as we’d been all week and ready for a long cool shower. We gathered cold water bottles and headed to our rooms.
At dinner, we talked about the next days plans--something I’d discussed with others on the team and then with Dinesh during the return drive. We would send two each to Sites 1 and 2 to help with completion of the latrines, send a couple more to Site 3 to help put the finishing touches on the pits and work on the latrine foundation, and then send the “Digging Team” to Site 4 to get started there. Meanwhile, we asked that rings and caps be delivered to Site 3 even if we couldn’t install them on Friday. Dinesh agreed to the plan as did the others.
Dinesh also told us the plan for Bardiya--that we would wrap up work by about 11:30am, get lunch at Unako House, and then return to clean-up and try to be on the road to Bardiya by 1:30pm. He also covered the Bardiya itinerary and I once again briefed the group on the room and spending plan that I had emailed to DWC. We all drank a little more beer and wine (following the usual dinner plates) talked about the day and retired early--we could tell that many were fading quickly.
That evening, I got a message from Debra that she wasn’t feeling well due to a persistent cough and some congestion and that she would be skipping the morning’s work on Friday to recover. That morning we had also stopped by a pharmacy to get her some cough drops.