Truckers

 A couple a weeks ago we had the job of purchasing and loading 10 tonnes worth of construction materials onto a lorry to be transported to another project base. After agreeing a price for the transport and then inspecting the lorry to confirm it was suitable and road worthy for the roads of the Congolese jungle (a task which I have clearly a large amount of experience in!!!!!) we spent a long day loading the materials from our warehouse and then driving around the town picking up other items which had been pre-bought. You can see our friend and work-mate Isabelle in the lorry getting involved with some cement!

The materials were all for the construction of sanitary facilities (or toilets!) and wells. This photo was taken at 7am, the start of a very long day.

The people helping us load the lorry are local workers who wait in the town centre at the main roundabout for work to become available. There are lots of trucks around due to the large market so there is normally quite alot of work for them. They were all very good humoured and we had quite a good laugh!

 Not posed at all! Ticking things off the packing list...

 Me with the driver at the truck, Athy. 

One of the logisticiens Hubert who I work with day to day, he is a bit of a star.

 

In the local market picking up some supplies. It is normally quite busy and people are friendly. We stand out a bit as there are not many other NGOs in the area, in fact we are probably the only one from overseas apart from one German organisation. There is also the UN but they are mainly a peacekeeping force. Saying that, it is a very stable area (helped I guess by their presence and the presence of the national army) and has been in the past as well - even during the period of fighting in the north-east a few years ago.

People often carry items on their heads, to help you can buy a ring made from twine which sits on top of your head under the item. In the photo below you can see them hanging up from the ceiling ready for sale.

With Isabelle, who is from France, sitting on planks of wood to be loaded onto the truck. Perhaps we should shift ourselves and start shifting them!

 

 We spent quite alot of the day waiting around for materials to be ready and hence a few random photos coming up! We spotted this beautiful, white bunny at the side of road. I am not sure if is a native species or has been lost by a magician!

Years of practice of parrot-bite-avoidence have led to this moment! This bird was very sweet and didn`t try to dag me at all! We saw some wild in the trees the other day as well which was very nice to see - they have the most lovely sounding call and very loud too. I really wanted to set this one free but may have to sneak back in the night to do this!

Preparing vegetables

Local children who were very excited to see their photo on the camera...(I have finally upgraded from using film only cameras!)

 One of the roads in the town. There are huge gutters for drainage during the rainy season which runs from April/May to November. It tends to rain everyday quite heavily for an hour or so and can be very impressive. Sometimes it rains all through the night as well, although in the morning there is almost no evidence of it as the ground is still so dry. The pet ducks we have at the house love standing out in it as you can imagine, as they normally rely on water in an old biscuit tin to drink and attempt to swim in (which I put out for them, a throw back to The Old Rectory!).

We were still loading the truck into the evening and this is the last item going on....so happy!

 

 The truck finally pulling off....horay!...to 100metres down the  road ready for an early morning departure the next day... 

That is all for now, thank you for reading. Pete has some photos to add (which feature him as well!)...coming soon.