Race Against the Rain
November 10, 2007
The rush to get the sand dams before the rains come for good continues. Anthony, Jenny and I went up for a few days to join the work that is continuing in the communities. We wanted to be present to answer questions and assist in what way possible. We left on Wednesday and returned late Friday night. The first day we were on our way to Thangera and it poured. We were in the lowland fields close to Thangera and at times were quite frightened we would get stuck but the truck was faithful and the ground solid enough that we made it to Thangera. We waited out the storm until there driving on to Tchinda. The amount of water passing by on the ground concerned us. We were seriously concerned that the rain would ruin the sites. Fortunately Tchinda did not get the rain that Thangera and because it has been so dry the ground soaks up what ever rain it can and the rest quickly runs away. The huge scoop hole in Thangera had been completely filled with water and debris (A picture of this hole was posted earlier this year on our Blog Site for you avid readers). Fortunately the work was continuing Tchinda. The storms continued to pass each evening but we only received a few drops in the mornings. This is the second time it has rained in Thangera and Tchinda. It has yet to rain in Mandie and it is still dusty and brown but the surrounding communities are greening up beautifully and the landscape is transformed into a garden.
We are extremely excited about what is happening. Tchinda has been working hard. They had filled about two meters of the deepest part of the trench with cement and rock and when we left they had filled the span of the river channel up about to the level of the river bottom. They had done all this in only three days of work and are progressing quite fast. They have been using 10 to 15 sacks of cement a day which is quite a lot for one day. We all spent Friday morning working and watching at the dam site. On Friday and Saturday Jenny and I spent time hauling wood and nails for the cement forms from Mandie to Tchinda. They had needed them sooner than planned because of the speed at which the work is going. We left Anthony in the community to continue helping with the work.
It is exciting to see that the project is starting to take off now with less of our help. We have spent so many weeks trying to help the Christian Council of Mozambique get the project started and get the workers in, get the communities organized and mobilized that it was nice to see things kind of take off. It felt like we had to haul the row boat down the sandy shore to get it going on the water which is a lot of work. But once the ship hits the water and the rowers begin to row you let it go and it floats away without any more need of your help. I want to be clear that we see this as a good thing. We all of a sudden have less work to do and really had only to stand around and watch and to answer questions when needed. The extensionists have good experience and knowledge and they are learning fast and moving forward directing things. There are still things to be done but it feels like CCM’s capacity is growing daily and is taking on that role. It will be important for Anthony to continue working alongside the extensionists and visit the dam sites to continue training. Each dam will be a little different in some aspects so Anthony’s presence will be needed. Moriane talked with Jenny and I about starting to put our forces into the Food Security project in the next few weeks and pulling us back from the Sand Dams work. We know this is a good thing but at the same time it is a little sad. It means we will be spending less time with the sand dams which we have thoroughly enjoyed participating in and would like to see it through to the end. We will still be checking in from time to time and seeing how things progress but we know that our skills are needed elsewhere at this point.
We are still rushing the rain but it feels like the speed of the project is picking up and the more cement we can get into the ground the less likely we will have problems. At least one dam will be constructed before the heavy rains. We arrived home in pouring rains in Chimoio and Gondola. We could hardly drive. It been raining quite frequently and is shaping up to be a rainy year. It is a reason to celebrate because people will have good crops this year. People will not go hungry.
November 10, 2007
The rush to get the sand dams before the rains come for good continues. Anthony, Jenny and I went up for a few days to join the work that is continuing in the communities. We wanted to be present to answer questions and assist in what way possible. We left on Wednesday and returned late Friday night. The first day we were on our way to Thangera and it poured. We were in the lowland fields close to Thangera and at times were quite frightened we would get stuck but the truck was faithful and the ground solid enough that we made it to Thangera. We waited out the storm until there driving on to Tchinda. The amount of water passing by on the ground concerned us. We were seriously concerned that the rain would ruin the sites. Fortunately Tchinda did not get the rain that Thangera and because it has been so dry the ground soaks up what ever rain it can and the rest quickly runs away. The huge scoop hole in Thangera had been completely filled with water and debris (A picture of this hole was posted earlier this year on our Blog Site for you avid readers). Fortunately the work was continuing Tchinda. The storms continued to pass each evening but we only received a few drops in the mornings. This is the second time it has rained in Thangera and Tchinda. It has yet to rain in Mandie and it is still dusty and brown but the surrounding communities are greening up beautifully and the landscape is transformed into a garden.
We are extremely excited about what is happening. Tchinda has been working hard. They had filled about two meters of the deepest part of the trench with cement and rock and when we left they had filled the span of the river channel up about to the level of the river bottom. They had done all this in only three days of work and are progressing quite fast. They have been using 10 to 15 sacks of cement a day which is quite a lot for one day. We all spent Friday morning working and watching at the dam site. On Friday and Saturday Jenny and I spent time hauling wood and nails for the cement forms from Mandie to Tchinda. They had needed them sooner than planned because of the speed at which the work is going. We left Anthony in the community to continue helping with the work.
It is exciting to see that the project is starting to take off now with less of our help. We have spent so many weeks trying to help the Christian Council of Mozambique get the project started and get the workers in, get the communities organized and mobilized that it was nice to see things kind of take off. It felt like we had to haul the row boat down the sandy shore to get it going on the water which is a lot of work. But once the ship hits the water and the rowers begin to row you let it go and it floats away without any more need of your help. I want to be clear that we see this as a good thing. We all of a sudden have less work to do and really had only to stand around and watch and to answer questions when needed. The extensionists have good experience and knowledge and they are learning fast and moving forward directing things. There are still things to be done but it feels like CCM’s capacity is growing daily and is taking on that role. It will be important for Anthony to continue working alongside the extensionists and visit the dam sites to continue training. Each dam will be a little different in some aspects so Anthony’s presence will be needed. Moriane talked with Jenny and I about starting to put our forces into the Food Security project in the next few weeks and pulling us back from the Sand Dams work. We know this is a good thing but at the same time it is a little sad. It means we will be spending less time with the sand dams which we have thoroughly enjoyed participating in and would like to see it through to the end. We will still be checking in from time to time and seeing how things progress but we know that our skills are needed elsewhere at this point.We are still rushing the rain but it feels like the speed of the project is picking up and the more cement we can get into the ground the less likely we will have problems. At least one dam will be constructed before the heavy rains. We arrived home in pouring rains in Chimoio and Gondola. We could hardly drive. It been raining quite frequently and is shaping up to be a rainy year. It is a reason to celebrate because people will have good crops this year. People will not go hungry.
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