A home for Raju: Back to Building

While drinking my morning Chai on our first morning back together as a team I was amazed when Keshab brought 7 people along with him to join us. Ram had decided to work with us again and brought his best friend for some casual work. We were strong. I knew a couple of Keshab’s lads from when we had built the retaining wall, but there were many new faces, and just like Keshab, they were all a big power on site. For the gruelling task of getting the materials down to the site, the more the merrier. We had a lot of materials to shift and these guys didn’t often stop, no matter the heat, the weight or the awkward gradient of the path down to the site. It felt good to have them back with us. Kesheb kept joining me in motivating everyone too, showing his passion as we all sweated it out for a couple of full days until the site was ready for Sukuman to join us again. I decided to order the next trucks to deliver to the road above us, to get some more of this painful and insane heavy labour out of the way while we had the power playing on our side.

Sukuman was ready for us; this time everything was connecting perfectly. I had organised Sukuman to bring another trusted builder with him. It turned out to be someone I had not met before, Milan. A gentle soft-spoken man, but on hearing he was a young uncle of Keshab, I guessed he must be setting a good example on building sites. I met them all for a morning Chai and wished them well laying the first bricks. I had to negotiate and check the quality of the metal order in the city which meant for one day I could not be on site but I had full trust in the team to carry the work forward. I met Mandu while we were finishing our Chai and soon we were on our way to Bhaktapur together once again.

The metal order took time, as to be expected. It was a full load for the completion of project, from rebars to roof structure and cladding. Johannes had messaged to say he was on his way to the village that day to start with us the following morning. Things had finally started falling into place.

On my return with the materials and knowing I would need a hand, we picked up Johannes from Ramesh’s homestay. Together with the materials we headed two kilometers down the other side of the mountain to the village of our site. As late as it was,  the team were still passionately waiting for us; all ready to help unload the truck. I couldn’t believe it, I had expected them to have gone home by now as it was after 6pm and dark outside. An incredible commitment from our Nepali team, what an amazing crew they are.  On my arrival to the site, carrying some of the heavy materials with the team, I was amazed to see how many bricks they had layed in a single day. The bricks were already coming up to my knees. This was very motivating and exciting and reaffirmed my trust in our team.

The next day I was glad to be back on site getting my hands dirty. I feel like I’m missing all the fun when I am not there. Being involved and seeing the realisation of a project is the most satisfying thing of all. It’s alive! It looked so beautiful. By the end of the next day we were ready for the first layer of formwork and rebars to be placed. We were going faster than I had imagined and it was all looking fantastic. They brought another new builder with them, Pushpa. Pushpa is another gentle and committed hard working guy. I was pleased to meet his acquaintance and although he is a little shy at first, he has a great sense of humour. With the amount of people in the team the next day we could all be extremely busy supporting each other on site. Everything about the team felt well balanced enabling us to get the work done with speed, durability and efficiency.

Milan had effortlessly won over my trust in his skills very quickly. Such a confident yet calm temperament with only respect for the work in hand on site. I knew straight away he was going to be a big player and character on site this time, I hadn’t anticipated him becoming the biggest player though. Through conversation I learned he only became a builder due to the earthquakes, with it being a high in demand job. With only three and a half years’ experience and Sukuman still teaching him everything he knows, he was impressive. There is however no substitute to having Sukuman on site with his mastery and experience. Sukuman really is a true master of the building craft in all capacities. Even Sukuman was more active this time on labour work when needed than before. This surprised me, and concerns me in equal measure this time knowing his growing health issues. This time around I can empathise with Sukuman even more, having had my own concerns after slipping a disc in my back. With increasing age I wonder how long the pair of us can keep this up? Knowing that Sukuman has 10 years on me, I urge him to calm down more, but his passion for the work is overflowing.  Sukuman and Milan are a perfect fit of age, youth and experience. With Keshab’s amazing power coming up behind them and with great support from the others all around the site I genuinely believe it couldn’t be a better team.

We spent a day cutting, bending and banding the rebar that would follow with our longest days on site: formwork and cement pouring. Due to the disaster and high amount of building work currently going on, (even now over 3 years since the disaster) we went to another house to borrow wood for the formwork as we had done previously with no problem. We had a very long tiring day of assembling the formwork, mixing and pouring the cement by hand. Days like this become the longest ones on the project. To complete this kind of work in a single day we start earlier and leave later than a normal working day for it to settle, for us to continue to lay bricks. Normally we finish these days in the dark with literally no complaints from any member of the team. We all see the goal and are committed working towards it. On a smaller day I welcome them to finish earlier when the work has an appropriate break in lieu of this. But on these days, I love nothing more than to personally buy a well-deserved cold beer for the team and do a little teambuilding with the volunteers. Getting everyone to know each other and have a good time. There is no question this benefits onsite efficiency. After all, we are having a great time all around.

I dream of our school project’s future with this team, especially with the growing feedback I am getting from engineers about the work we are doing. I dream of Keshab becoming a fully legitimate builder with us. Keshab tells me his dreams to learn woodwork too, like Sukuman, his hero. My thoughts are that with the school project this can be as good for us as it will be for him. It should be something we work towards together, the sound of it makes me happy. I always want our project to support the local community as much as possible as we continue; especially given the amazing skills, commitment and loyalty they are providing us.