We arrived around 8:30 this morning and I was surprised by how much work had been accomplished in just a few days.
Yesterday, the first layer of concrete was put on the "wall" of the cistern.
Today about 15 persons arrived sharply at 9 am, the technical representative from Cedesa and 14 workers, most women.
watched as they sift sand and start dumping wheelbarrows of sand on the ground. Next they carried over 5 bags of cement and dumped that on top of the sand. That was mixed up and formed into a small volcano. Buckets of water started arriving & were poured into the volcano.
We were mystified to know how they knew just when the right amount of water was deposited. They, (about four women with shovels), mixed it up and they were exactly right … no extra water had to be added.
Meanwhile the plywood sheets were removed from the inside of the cistern cylinder … concrete was passed over the top to the workers inside and then began a flurry of activity both inside and out.
Final result: two new layers of concrete and a finished cylinder. Tomorrow the cone shaped roof will go on and the pilot cistern is on schedule and will be finished on Friday.
Each work group intends to immediately begin on the fifteen more cisterns. Materials are expected to be delivered to each family’s home on Friday.
Lee Carter
