The Best Girlfriend in the World

3D reborn HDR

Originally uploaded by ukweli

Her name is Maureen. She has waited very patiently for me to return from Sudan for over a year. One might think that was enough. It was more than enough, really. But did she stop there? She did not.

I’ve been riding this bike frame for 9 years now. It was a hard day for me when I sat on the top tube and it suddenly was entirely separated from the seat tube. It honestly felt like a pretty bad omen considering the timing–days before I left for Africa. I look forward with relish to reassembling the thing from the ground up. Maybe I will finally build those disc brake wheels I’ve thought of for years.

I was simply flabbergasted when Maureen slid this thing out of a large box she had in her closet. I would not have guessed in 100 years that she had accomplished this for me and kept it secret. There is quite simply no material gift in this world I would have been more delighted with.

Maureen, you are a gem. I don’t even know what else to say.

The End is Nigh

There is a time to face facts. With the Kororak Primary School that time is now. The first school building simply will not finish during my time in Sudan. I admit to real disappointment.

My replacement–an engineer from Kenya named Moses Wandabwa–is with us now. I have given Moses all the information on the school, and I am confident that he will have little difficulty seeing it to completion. But there is a pang. If you have ever handed someone else a crying baby with a suspect diaper, you may recognize the feeling.

In the end, it was the mobilization of basic materials that slowed us. Sand, gravel, large stones, and water were and are needed in an abundance I could hardly believe. The community was very willing to help, but the work was simply monumental. There was just no speeding it up. Gravity is not someone you can get into a hurry. I know this.

I predict two more full weeks to completion of the first building. I would expect the next building to follow in less than a month and a half. As it stands now, the first building has three trusses erected on steel beams and about half of its first meter of stone wall complete.
————-
Toby days remaining: 4

Foundation Pour

I started my day today with the following:
1 fried egg on bread
4 tablets Coartem
1 pill multivitamin
1 pill probiotic
2 tablets extra strength Maalox PLUS
2 pills acetaminophen
500 ml Coca-Cola

Given that breakfast of champions, it is probably safe to assume
anything suspect I now relate is due to hallucination. I don’t normally
ingest quite so much chemistry in the morning. I have been caught in
what I now believe to be a cross-fire between several body ailments. It
is exceedingly unpleasant when hunger makes you nauseated, nausea makes
you thirsty, and drinking water makes you hungry.

Cement was poured into a hole in Kororak today.  PICTURE There is no turning back
now. There is every reason to hope we can have masons bringing up the
walls before the end of this week.

I had intended to pour the remainder of the foundation tomorrow.
However, one of our tractors’ trailers broke down. This means we won’t
have sufficient sand tomorrow to mix concrete. I dare say that in the
course of my time here, there has rarely been a week that one of our
trailers was not broken. Sure, the X-prize is cool, but if you want a
real design challenge try building a trailer that will operate for three
successive weeks in Nuba.

Toby days remaining: 14

Kororak Primary School Underway

Grass burned in Kororak today. After a short meeting with a few members
of the school committee and teachers of Kororak, we chose a site for the
first set of classrooms. The committee has wisely decided to place the
two buildings at opposite sides of the ample playground. Anyone who has
witnessed the synchronized shouting that serves as a memorization
technique in African primary schools will appreciate the acoustical
foresight of this decision.

Our chief Marcos is gifted when it comes to official action. He took the
siting as a queue and immediately set the 7 by 30 meter swath of earth
on fire. Nearly burning down the former school was perhaps a subtle hint
that everyone is very ready for some new classrooms.

A leader from another community has already approached me about a school rebuild in their area.

Toby days remaining: 25

Ups and Downs

I should probaby, for the sake of my dear mother’s heart, report here that I am definitely returning to normal from my recent bout with malaria. I have to admit this time that it was a truly awful experience. I have usually tried, in the past, not to sensationalize the many downsides of life in Africa. My previous experience with plasmodium falciporum was that it flared up quickly and with terrible intensity, only to immediately fold under the application of appropriate salvos of drug. It would seem that not all strains of malaria are created equal. I am now on day 7 of a slow decline from the peak of this recent attack.

Two Sundays ago I was treated to one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen anywhere. It was decided that we should spend the day hiking the mountains of Alebu in search of watery caves which were widely reported to exist up there. Having not found them on two previous excursions, we sought out the help of two Sudanese friends–a Mr. Juju and Mr. Mangusto.

I have mentioned previously that the mountains of Moro are simply loaded with amazing spectacles of balanced rock. They are absolutely everywhere you look as you hike. It was one of these arrangements which had an extra feature which fascinated me so.

The day had been excellent for climbing and we had refreshed ourselves in various cracks in the great rocks full of cool water. Mangusto had guided us without the least hint toward the final spectacle high on the mountain. As we unwittingly approached it, Mangusto rushed ahead and disappeared. We began to hear a strange musical sound.

Mangusto had led us to a truly gigantic boulder which was perched on three small stone faces. Two of the faces are compressed in such a way that when you strike them, they sing out with distinctly musical sounds. In fact, striking them in different places yields different notes. The faces had dozens of pockets worn into them by thousands of strikes. Mangusto assured us that people had been playing this gigantic instrument for, “very, very long.”

I’m guessing that estimate could mean anything from hundreds to thousands of years. I felt that I was in the presence of a still-active ancient African artifact.