March 21

Yesterday was my last day in Ongole and it was a big one. I headed out to the site about 10:30 and was disappointed to find that no workers were there to pour the concrete for the roof. So I called the contractor who told me the concrete crew were on the way, so I decided to stick it out for a while. Sure enough around noon the workers showed up and what an interesting crew it turned out to be. The skilled jobs, like concrete finisher, carpenter, or mixer operator were all done by men, but the hard physical labor was all done by a group of 10 teenage girls. Let me tell you these girls could put any laborer in the states to shame with how hard they worked. They would carry the raw materials, aggregate , sand , cement, and water, in pans on their heads to the concrete mixer. Then when the batch was complete they would scope it into their pans and hoist it up to the roof and then again carry it on their heads to where it needed to be placed. All in about 80 degree, 99% humidity whether. Not sure how much they get paid for this kind of work but boy did they earn their money today. By the evening we had our first rain fall of the season in Ongole, so I'm glad we were able to get the roof complete. I'm in Hyderabad today awaiting my flight out for a few days of R&R in Delhi. I'll try and load up some pictures of the big pour next time I get a chance and have some final thoughts on where the project stands and my overall experience in India. Until then happy Hollie (It's a Indian festival day today where everyone paints them selves bright colors, I'll try and get some pics of that too).

Mike