I Love it When Plan Comes Together!

Sleep eludes me at the appropriate time but won’t leave me alone when it should. I woke up very early in the morning yesterday and lay there trying to will myself back to sleep. When that failed, I wetn out on my balcony and watched the sun rise over a mist-filled valley while eating fresh bananas. For some reason, it made me think of Vietnam when Kim and Brad looked after me following a very bad Larium trip. (You can’t buy a hit like that on the street!) To this day, I don’t dare take anti-malarial meds.

Yesterday, I visited the clinic construction site at Zowkathar. It is a 2-hour drive which seems like too much after the 7-hour drive of the day before. I am enjoying the road this time, though. I just pretend that I am in a road rally race, and the trip becomes an exciting adventure instead of a kidney jarring, butt numbing trip. I do marvel at the skill of the drivers on the road. They know exactly where the corners of their vehicles are.

Coming over the crest of the last hill going into Zowkathar, the clinic is very visible with its shiny new roof. I would take a picture, but the Sumo (like a Land Rover) is bucking so badly I know I will never get the shot. ( I cheated and had the driver stop on the way home for this picture.) The road into the clinic is closed while they construct a culvert over a stream; the goat trail we drove down was a challenge for the Sumo to, say the least, but we arrived in one piece.

The structural components of the building are all completed, the floor is poured, and even the roof is on. Interior walls are made of brick and then plastered over for a smooth finish. All the interior walls are started, and about 15 men were working on them when we arrived.

The workmanship is very good, and the materials are great, too! The process is very manual. Even sifting sand is done by hand. The foreman helped me measure the building and answered all my questions through a translator. His crew is working 7 days a week, but I guess there is not much else to do in Zowkathar. It reminds me of my jug hound days on Melville Island. Best of all, the contractor has no outstanding issues and the project is on budget! I love it when a plan comes together!