Orange Shirt Guy

I went to a Go Mamelodi meeting this evening and learned a little more of how I'll be helping. . .

Apparently, about 6 years ago, the Mamelodi township built about 600 house-skeletons (frames for a house, but no walls -- people that have been to Mamelodi call them picnic shelters).  These were erected to help residents create their own house -- once the frame and roof were installed, it was thought that the owners would then install the walls and have a more substantial home -- kind of like a Habitat for Humanity.

Unfortunately only about 5 or 6 have been finished by the local residents.

So, I have been assigned to one of 10 Construction Teams (consisting of 8 people).  It is anticipated that our Teams will build 40 new concrete block wall homes (with indoor electricity).  For those of you looking for "yeah, but what are you actually doing Dave?"  I believe that "Being a Grunt" is the appropriate answer.  Odds are good that I'll be carrying blocks, mixing mortar, or just doing what I am told -- should be kind of nice.

9.43 p.m. on Sunday, February 26, 2006 [this is a transcription I made just after the meeting]:

    I am driving home from a coordination meeting for the trip to Mamelodi.  As I am driving, I am struck by how freakishly amazing God's influence (right word?) is for this trip.

    I have previously written about being worried about simple things like room mate (Selfishly, I was worried that my roommate and I might not mesh and that it would be a source of stress for me.)

    Over the past few weeks, I have been doing some overt praying on the roommate situation and some covert/subliminal praying. This evening,  I had the chance to meet my roommate.  And just actually meeting him helped allay any fears of the unknown before arriving in South Africa. And (fortunately) he seems like a pretty good guy and it seems like we have a pretty similar working background.

    What a nice gift it was to receive 46 days before we leave for South Africa.

    Previously, I had heard about "just have faith in God" and everything will turn out right. The more I am able to give up my internal struggles to God, the more I learn that life is easier and my life becomes part of the Master Plan. (See An Engineer Looks at 40).

    I guess that my other point is that learning to have faith is not really all that easy.  But once one has it, it is (retrospectively) painfully simple. Probably analogous to my daughter's and son's learning to ride a bike -- really hard and they just didn't get it until BAM, they'll always have it.

This evening, Kim and I went to Playhouse in the Park to see a show called "Company".  It was a musical and it was entertaining and then some.  All of the characters acted, all of them sang, and all of them played instruments for the music for the story.

The instruments and the musicians were well-incorporated into the play.

As I was watching this (and don't forget that I am still naive about South Africa) I was thinking about how lucky we are that we were able to have fun and to be entertained by something as (relatively) trivial as a play.  I wonder how high up the Maslow's pyramid entertainment is?  [Actually, I wonder where it fits in (Survival, Security, Social Acceptance, Self-Esteem, Self-Actualization)].

All in all, we (Thurston's and most of the people that live anywhere near us) don't have to struggle too hard for the first two levels of the pyramid.  And (post-high school), social acceptance and self-esteem are worthy items of work, but still usually aren't an overwhelming and 24/7 mind-bogging struggles.

So my point is actually a question:  After returning from South Africa, (a) will I feel sorry for those in Mamelodi for not being able to be entertained by such a play or (b) will I feel sorry for we Ohioans for "not getting it" and having to be entertained by such a play.

March 24, 2006 (updated 3/25/06)

This link is the first real view of the rubber meeting the road for one of the things that we'll be doing in Mamelodi.  This website was created by one of the advance team members that visited Mamelodi and did a dry run a few months ago (thanks to .

And this link provides an overview of a previous trip.

Click on it, I think that you'll enjoy (and maybe be awed by) the pictures and the text.

Following is an email to construction team members (maybe I am double dipping by making an email into a log entry, but alas, I am going to use my we-have-four-kids, two-in-time-conflicting-sport-activities get-out-of-jail-free card).

    Hi Fellow Builders,

    It was good meeting most of you the other evening at Crossroads. Here are somethings that I thought might be useful. If they are, then great. If not, then not too much time taken. . .

    If you haven't yet seen the link, click on http://pharmacy.uc.edu/mamelodi/Homes.html to see what we'll be building.

    You can also see some pictures from a previous recon trip here:  http://pharmacy.uc.edu/mamelodi/crossroads.html

    In the past when starting a new project (any new project -- even with the exact same crew doing the exact same task) there is always a learning curve.

    There will be one here too. So we'll hit our stride after some amount of time.

    One thing that occurs frequently on a construction site is a morning meeting to (a) talk about the goals for the day and (b) to remind everyone about the safety issues. This will probably be a good idea.

    We might talk about: (1) tripping hazards - we'll want to get loose items out of our paths - no different from the kid's toys in the basement. (2) Pinched Fingers - we'll probably have one or two - wearing gloves will keep the pinching to a minimum. (3) Falling items - try not to get your or your head under anyone setting blocks as a block (obviously), trowel, or even falling mortar wouldn't be pleasant.

    From the construction standpoint, it'll be good and important for everyone to have a hand in each type of work -- whether it is laying blocks, mixing mortar, doing layout, or quality control. The variety will be physically and mentally helpful for everyone.

    We'll be using (I am assuming) real mortar with real cement during the construction -- during the training, the mortar we used had a small amount of cement in it, but it wasn't a full mix. As you may know, cement is an alkali or base (opposite pH of an acid). It is possible for the mortar mix to burn, so we'll need to remember that. (Don't get hung up on this, just don't eat or play in the mortar.) It'll dry out your hands to an amazing degree too -- bring lots of lotion.

    You'll probably want to make sure that you bring some sunglasses or some safety glasses. Of course, if you're using a hammer to cut a block, you'll want to wear the safety glasses. At other times if/when you're mixing mortar, you'll want something to keep splashes from your eyes (sunglasses would be ok).

    First Aid - I am planning on bring a generic kit of Band-Aids, bandages, etc. I imagine that I'll have enough for everyone in our group.

    We've all practiced building the walls near the ground. Near the end of the project, we'll not just be moving cinder blocks and mortar to the site, we'll also need to get it to the right higher level for placement.  Something to consider.

    Cleaning the site at the end of the day - I don't know why, but it is useful to "bookend" the day's construction - I don't know if it helps with the day's closure or with tomorrow's beginning, but it helps for some reason, so we'll try to spend 15 minutes near the end of the day doing a cleanup/straighten-up.

    Also at the end of the day, we'll probably be pretty dusty and dirty -- that means that on the third day unless you've done wash (and assuming you've brought just two pairs of jeans) you'll start out in dirty jeans - no big deal. But my point is to make sure that you bring enough socks that you can have a clean pair each day without doing wash (at least six pairs). [Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but it seems like a reasonable point to make.]

    We'll make sure that we always stick together. If something unexpected happens, we'll error on the side of the conservative.

    At no time will anyone be "on-purposed asked" to do something they either don't want to or can't [is there a correct way to phrase that?]. If anyone is asked such a thing, then please respond with some kind of "I don't feel comfortable doing that." or "I'll do it, but I'll need a hand to get it done." statement.

    As I proofread this, I realize that I need to add a disclaimer of sorts -- This email may contain some downers, but getting this type of info "out there" will help us when we're "over there". I am quite confident that our work will kick butt, that we'll be happily tired at the end of each day, and that we'll come home knowing that we've (literally) improved the world.

    Looking forward to it. Feel free to call or return email with questions or comments.

    Dave

    PS's:

    Some (possibly) useful construction information:

    Cement - an ingredient in concrete and mortar - it is the "glue" that reacts with water that holds the aggregate (rocks and sand) together.

    Concrete - a mixture of water, cement, aggregate (rocks and sand)

    Mortar - a mixture of water, cement and sand -- no rocks. Also, the real mortar that we'll be using should stick to our blocks much better - so if it fell off during the training, it'll be better in real life.

    Blocks - I think that each block is about 8 inches tall, so to build a 11 foot tall wall, we'll need to install blocks 16 or 17 tall.

    Finally: If this has been useful, feel free to forward it to other constructors. And if has not been useful, well, then, please don't forward it.