Construction underway

It's been a week since we visited the site and as you can see from the photos work is now well underway.  The foundations for the two classroom blocks are being dug out and the concrete blocks to be used in the foundations are being moulded.  These are laid out to cure and have to be frequently watered to prevent cracking.

There is no water on site and a brick tank, concrete lined, has been built to hold the water used for construction.  The water is fetched from the river some 2kms away.  Local women have been employed by the contractor to collect and carry the water from the river to fill the drums loaded on the contractors truck.  They then drive back to the site and off load the water into the water tank.  This task is carried out several times per day.  It should perhaps be mentioned that this is the water source for people living in the area as there are no boreholes or access to piped water, this is the water used for cooking, drinking washing etc.
We are making some progress in our search for a suitable engine to drive the maize mill so hopefully that will be up and running in the near future.

   This weekend I'm off down south to Mulanje to a function with lots of traditional dancing so should be some interesting photos for next week!

Lots more photos on the main construction site!