Tuesday 7th July
Another early start for another beautiful day in Addis. Today was our first building day with Habitat and so we met early enough to have a time of reflection before breakfast. After breakfast,we grabbed our backpacks and all-important work gloves, got our boots on, and were on the bus for 8.30am!
We arrived at our 1st site- a kindergarten school- at 9am ready to go! Our welcome at the school was definitely one of the teams' highlights of the day. We were greeted by the teachers and Habitat staff, where two beautiful girls presented the team with flowers. It was a very special moment, and it was clear to see that the first meeting meant a lot to the teachers and director of the school. The ladies and children were dressed in the most pristine traditional Ethiopian dresses, and their hair was carefully braided and plaited with many beads and clips.
Welcome ceremony
We were then introduced to our building project-a toilet block. This will provide 8 new toilets for the 200+ pupils in the school. It will be earthquake proof and the septic tank can be emptied to be reused. This will replace a far less hygienic facility of 4 toilets...well four holes in the ground, that have literally been filled up with waste, and are no longer useable. Seeing (and smelling) the four toilets that over 200 4-6 year olds use on a daily basis was very difficult for everyone on the team. It highlighted again the great need, and the importance of Habitat's work.
Current toilets
The foundations had already been laid, and so our job today was to prepare the steel reinforcements for the concrete to make the block earthquake proof, then to fill the floor with the concrete.
The first job of twisting wire around the steel rods to hold it all together was quite technical, but we all got into the way of it quickly enough and embraced the opportunity to finally help! We had a large audience during this time, as the locals watched on. Two of which were policemen, but we were amazed to discover that they weren't actually there to spectate for an hour or so, but actually they will be with us all week to ensure our safety and the safety of the site. They were also very willing and excited to help out.
Peter, Neil, and our friendly police men
At 11am we had our coffee break. This coffee break, as Daniel correctly pointed out, would put Northern Irish builders' breaks to shame! This was a very much anticipated traditional coffee ceremony that we had heard many great things about! The ceremony is used for visiting friends or guests, as well as part of everyday life. The balcony, where we were seated, was beautifully decorated with flowers and palm leaves scattered on the floor around 6 local ladies and their coffee utensils.
Coffee Ceremony
The first part of the ceremony is the brewing, where raw coffee beans are roasted over a small charcoal pit- a 'brazier'. The smell of the beans was delicious, and the ladies wafted the smell in our direction as part of the ceremony. The beans were then ground on a wooden pestle and mortar before added to a clay pot with a long spout- a 'jebena'.
David having a go at coffee grinding.
After the coffee was brewed,we were served it in the tiniest cups, alongside some traditional biscuits and pastries. Freshly made popcorn was also supplied. Although the coffee was incredibly strong, and for some hard to 'down', the ceremony was very intriguing and again a humbling experience. It gave us time to get to know the locals, and for them to know us. We learnt some Amharic, and David was very keen to teach some English- including the definition of 'fine'...
It was back to work to finish off the wire on the steel rods before lunch. We were driven less than 5 minutes away to a four star hotel for lunch. The lunch break made a lot of us think about the extreme difference between rich and poor so close to each other. Amidst great poverty was this grand hotel. The toilets that we had experienced in the school were a million miles away from the very luxurious ones at the hotel.
Lunch at nearby hotel
After lunch,we started mixing the concrete. The work was a lot harder than the work in the morning- with heavy lifting of cement, stones and sand; then carrying the newly mixed concrete to the site to fill in the floor.
The afternoon was broken up slightly by the most insane Equatorial torrential downpour! The work had to stop because of it, but we entertained ourselves by taking turns to run through a waterfall which was flowing from the roof of the school, which greatly entertained the locals. As the rain began to ease, we went back to work. It was still raining, but nothing we weren't used to from home. After the rain stopped Jenny Williams, the Chief Executive for HFH Northern Ireland, came to visit. We showed her around the site and we appreciated her encouragement.
Team photo with HFHNI Chief Executive, Jenny Williams
Nearing 5pm, all very tired, the final mix was being put on the floor and it looked like the end of the working day was in sight. But it turned out more concrete needed mixed to finish the floor...and just as this new mix was being finished off...another mix was needed.
Concrete mixing
By 6.30pm we were done- literally and physically! However, spirits were still high as we worked as a great team and as we saw how much we had completed in just one day.
We got back to the guesthouse about 7pm and had time for a quick shower before dinner. Tiredness had definitely hit by the time we had finished our burgers, rice and 'Ethiopian' lasagne and so we didn't have any team entertainment- just a quick reflection of the day and then some banter before bed.
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