Day 13 - Saturday March 1

We received approval from the Rotary contact for the slightly larger pad size and the second bore well, which is great news as both were required to make the project successful.

In the morning, the villagers installed a second bore well on the opposite end of the proposed pad. Once the contractor's workers arrived on scene, they promptly began pouring the second half of the columns. We verified that they were level and of the correct dimensions, though the workers were also double checking the dimensions themselves with plum bobs and a piece of flexible tubing. Both the villagers and the workers were also ensuring that the pours were being kept wet. The original plan was to install the roof after the columns were installed; however, the decision was made to hold off on the installation of the roof until Mike arrives on March 8, as he would like to oversee this operation (Mike contributed to the design of the structure). We were informed of the decision during the day and it was a bit of a shock as we were not consulted during the decision making process. So the next step of the construction will involve the installation of the wetland. We are still trying to find a place where we can buy reeds; however, the language barrier is pretty extensive and I do not think people are understanding what we need. We have been to several nurseries with no luck in finding the plants we will need for the wetland. If worst comes to worst, we may need to simply have the villagers or the workers go down to the Buckingham Canal and pull out some of the naturally occurring reeds for our project.

Since the wetland construction is about to begin, we scouted the area for the best location for it. There were two acceptable areas, but unfortunately one is the site of a future road. That made the decision quite easy regarding the final placement of the wetland. We plan to arrive at the site tomorrow first thing in the morning to lay out the dimensions for the wetland. The contractor's workers will then start the excavation.