The Big Push

It's Thursday morning just before sunrise and we are about to get moving very quickly to get as much work done as possible on our last two days here in Mweka.  We wake up here to different sounds than we are used to hearing in California, including roosters (not so unusual) and several different kinds of monkeys.  There are birds singing songs in all different pitches but somehow they all come together smoothly as the sound of morning on Kilimanjaro.

After dinner last night, we did some strategizing about our last few hours here and we also had a long conversation about the people that we have become here and how we will take our lessons from Kili back to our lives in California and beyond.  Among other things, we noted that we need less "stuff" than we thought we did to be happy and that really meaningful work is its own reward, especially if done in groups of people who experience true unity of purpose.  Prepare to see something different about us when you see us next, even if we can't quite describe what it is.

Also, we inducted one new member into the Order of the Purple Bike: Aidan.  Shawny and Jesse said that almost every year there is a newcomer to DIRT that just "gets it" from the very start.  Aidan is one of those people.  He has a sense of adventure that is tempered by his interest in the common good and he has a perspective of awe and wonder about all that surrounds him.  Those qualities help him to connect easily with our hosts and each of us.  He also has a storehouse of homeopathic remedies that he readily volunteers for all of our ills.  And two nights ago, we got to see what happens when you turn on music and a spinning laser light when Aidan is ready to dance.  Thanks, Aidan, for all that you have contributed to DIRT 2018!

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The planters planted.  And planted.  And planted.  There are 120 new trees at Mweka Primary School and an eager group of students at the ready to tend to them as they grow.  They helped us plant them too, which means we had to struggle over whether to use the shovels or let the students use them.  Of course, we let them use them.  So instead of shovels, we used some flatbars (like smallish crowbars) to dig the dirt, because those are the tools we brought from the US that seemed the most likely to be helpful.  We didn't bring our whole tool arsenal, but we brought hammers and flatbars and some battery-operated power tools just in case.  We used one of our drills once, but only to do some work on one of the three water purification systems we brought along.

The planting team moved much more quickly than yesterday so they finished long before our usual lunch time.  They joined the school group at the kitchen-under-construction but then decided to head up to camp and take their post-lunch rest pre-lunch instead, to be more ready for the afternoon's work.      The brick team kept going up, with Lindsay and Megan totally owning one whole wall.  The bricklayers started telling progressive stories, where one person starts it, leaves it hanging at some interesting point, and then the next person picks it up and keeps it going until they've passed through all of the team members onsite.  The stories get totally stupid and that's the point.  They helped us to get through some brutal sun today.

The roof tiles (tin) started to go up at the end of the day, too, which makes the place look a little closer to complete.  We didn't have Remy's guts to crawl around on the trusses, so our role in that job was just to hand up sheets of roofing material.  Unlike Remy, we wore gloves.

Tomorrow will be our farewell to the school, which will be quite difficult for us.  We doubt if the students will be aware that we are going away, which makes it even harder.  But we are happy with our achievements here and the friendships we have made.  We will think of some appropriate close for our time here and tell you about it (but probably not videotape it) after we're done.

Over the weekend, we begin our safari, which might keep us from posting regularly.  If we can, we will.  We suspect that we won't get any pictures up before Monday due to our accommodations.  We will camp for two nights and stay in a lodge the third night.  And the fourth night will be spent on an airplane heading back to California.  We'll try to stay in touch, but no promises.

We still have evening activities ahead so we'll check back in after those.  And then tomorrow we will give you the rundown on our bittersweet farewell from Mweka and Mweka Camp.  Thanks again for following us and sending in comments; we read them aloud and love them when they come.  But mostly we are trying to soak in the beauty and familiarity of our surroundings here, as soon only our memories, pictures, and videos will remain; we can't believe it's almost over . . .

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We added one new Purple Biker tonight: Marlina!  Though she is a vet and technically already in the Order, her previous trip didn't do the whole purple bike thing so tonight was her night.  She has been an incredible asset to this trip, as she has helped Shawny practically every day of the fall semester in the prepwork involved in mounting this trip.  Keeping track of all of the food, tools, first aid items, gifts, prizes, etc., is a huge job and Marlina has really stepped up to make it happen.  She has also been a great role model for all of the newcomers by saying "I'll go!" practically every time we had a call for volunteers to do special jobs or make special trips.  She is a great example of all that DIRT is meant to be. Thanks, Mar!

 Although we are here until Saturday, today was one of the last pushes to get laundry done.  We need to give it enough time to air dry to prevent mold and mildew.

 Scott working hard on his daily journal.

 Here is one of the chimney guys working hard to finish building the chimney.  It takes an expert to build these specialized chimneys so we had to hire a special team rather than doing it ourselves.

 We hope the new chimney will provide a safer and less smoky environment for Mama Grace.

We never get tired of the beautiful sunsets here.  We hope you feel the same way!

 Team Riko (minus Matt who was taking the picture) stand on scaffolding laying mortar in preparation for another layer of bricks.

 A head on look at the main kitchen building, which had just been fitted with wooden trusses for the roof.

 Lindsay working side by side with Barnabas. Traditionally jobs like brick laying are done by men, and it took a while for Barnabas to come around to the idea of working with a woman. We persisted and after a few days he was delegating his work to some of the hard working women on our team.

 Our contractor Henry handing a tin roof piece to Remy the roofer.

    Mt. Kili peering out through the storm clouds. Earlier in the day a huge thunder storm had descended down the mountain and just missed our camp.

   The second to last sunset at Mweka Camp.

   Our host Simon sitting in our makeshift studio setup for interviews by groups for final projects.

   An army of ants we came across walking to the worksite.

   Mama Grace stepping into her new kitchen for the first time giving her signature powerful stare.

   One of our own team members, Josh (Kitutu), taking a power nap during the lunch break.