Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thursday, Nov 27: Day 4 of Construction, Nothing Can Stop Us!

Once again, we arrived onsite nervous to see the damage the rain had done and motivated to get to work quickly! Considering all the time we had lost in the last two days we were still quite impressed with our progress on the latrine. We weren’t going to let a little bit of rain (or even A LOT of rain) stand in our way!

 
In the morning Todd, Scott, Sandra, Mr. Chen, and another hired worker lowered the four cement rings in place for the waste reservoir, while Cathy and Sarah worked inside the latrine plastering the walls and sealing the inside of the water basin with pure cement. 


We finished all the work that we could without literally working on top of one another before our last lunch break at ‘The Vine’. We figured we deserved a little celebration for our last day onsite and we tried a traditional Khmer dessert at the end of our meal, which consisted of coconut milk, mung beans, and tapioca pearls. Unfortunately the dessert was a celebration for some more than others; it certainly was quite different from what we would serve for a treat after dinner in North America!

We arrived back onsite after lunch and jumped back into action! Once again there were some nasty clouds off in the distance trying to get in our way. Mr. Chen and the other worker managed to get the roof of the latrine in place only moments before the rain started pouring down. Luckily, today we only had tasks inside the latrine to complete and we would be able to work through the rain. Cathy finished up plastering one of the inside walls, while I worked on sealing the last wall of the water basin. We proceeded to take turns working inside to finish plastering the walls since we could not all fit at once. Once the rain had let up a bit we mixed up another batch of mortar so that Mr. Chen could install the toilet and pour the floor inside of the latrine. We had to work late but we managed to get everything done by the end of the day. 


We are quite impressed with the work that we have been able to accomplish in Odong village over the last two weeks, which seem to have whizzed by so fast. Tonight we celebrate at a seaside restaurant called ‘The Sailing Club’ to enjoy some delicious food and fancy cocktails with Vy for our final evening in Kep.

Sarah Armstrong
DWC Team Leader
Cambodia, November 2014

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