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| May 28/05 Getting Settled |
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It's been another eventful week in the zone. We are full steam ahead turning our house into the 'Base Camp'. Many local men and youths come and help us each day. At first they asked to be paid, but we said we couldn't because we weren't a rich international NGO. They came the next day anyway, which is a good sign. The women are keeping their distance as we are only 7 guys at present. Hopefully this will change when Rosa joins us.
The farmers are really getting interested in permaculture and I have an informal lesson each day. I think two of them will make good trainers.
We've been collecting materials from the tsunami zone. About 7 km from our site is a wild surf beach where tons of building materials have washed up. We chose this place because it's isolated and there are no refugees or villages there. We don't want to take from the people who lost everything, but this place is where the sea deposits its flotsam.
The first load we got back to base without a hitch if you don't count the broken shock absorber. The next day we rented a local truck and packed it with the best long boards, window frames, doors and assorted pieces of houses we could find. On the way back a group of villagers stopped us. Their chief said the beach where we got the wood was where thousands of bodies washed up. The people see it as cursed.
We were able to keep the load, but after that we had to get our materials the hard way by going out with the chainsaw and cutting 5 meter lengths of coconut logs from tsunami waste on the side of the highway. This is hard work as they weigh a ton each. The main bulk of usable wood is gone now. The major NGOs paid the locals to cut it up and burn it as a cash-for-work program. This is a real waste as none of it is being used for housing. Most of the wood for new housing is coming from the rainforests illegally. We are just getting what we can before it's all burnt. We have enough now on our land to build the first training classroom and kitchen.
We are currently negotiating for 2 pieces of land. These deals have to be done in the local manner which seems slow to us westerners. The borders must be measured out and argued over for a few weeks before the contract can be signed. It's step by step for us so we get it right the first time. OK, that's it for now. Cheers, Steve. |
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