Having Fun

Hi Everyone!  It seems like I always write these posts when I’m on the run these days.  I have been reminded every minute of every day how much I absolutely love being in this place. Being here stirs something in me.  I'm not sure how to even explain it.   Things have been crazy, there isn’t a free centimetre in our work space with all the drawings, computers and calculators, but I so love being a part of this process of designing and creating and seeing potential where there is nothing. 

I should explain our situation a bit better.  Although we are designing a secondary school for Amazima Ministries, we are staying at an babies and children’s home called Good Shepherd’s Fold.  I have loved being in this place of raw beauty.  Our work space is on a veranda with an incredible view, and there is a babies home a few hundred metres away!  The other civil and I went and hung out with the babies for an hour yesterday and it was so much fun.  They stole my heart for sure. 

One thing I love about a project like this is being a part of an engineering community in the middle of Africa.  Figuring out how 10 people with very structured personalities can function and work well together in a culture where that type of personality is not always an asset.   And yet still figuring out how to complete an inordinate amount of work in the space of a week.  I love and thrive on that challenge. This being my 9^th eMi project (how is that even possible), I’ve been finding that I’m still learning so very much, however, I’ve also been finding that I’ve become much more confident in my abilities to design water and sanitation systems in this part of the world. I’ve been so enjoying working with the other civil who I also worked with in Haiti.

I’ve also been enjoying the somewhat cultural discussions between the members of our team (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland and Nigeria).  Especially this one from last night:

E (United States): Do you cook with a lot of herbs (pronounces it “erb”) in Australia?

P: I’ve never even heard of that, what is it?

E: You mean you’ve never hear of an “erb”?

P: No, spell it.

E: H E R B

P: Oh, you mean like a herb (pronounces the hard h).  Yeah I totally know what those are I’ve just can’t understand your English.

Do you want to hear something crazy?  I met someone in the middle of Jinja the other day from Blumenort, Manitoba.  How is that even possible?

Anyway if the internet is fast enough I’ll leave you with some pictures of those little ones who have enlarged my capacity to love.  Aren’t they sweet?

 Viola loves cuddles:)

 Me & Viola

 Miracle.  I scared the living daylights out of her by trying to play peek a boo.

 Auguring holes for percolation testing.

 David and Tom perform a DCP to test the bearing capacity of the soil