Week 5: Concrete Block Drama

Another interesting week here in Rwanda. Last week I touched base on the concrete block quality and that the contractor committed to replacing the blocks that I rejected. Well had another lost in translation experience! Went to site on Monday and found that no blocks had been replaced and in fact a tremendous amount of additional block wall that did not meet the quality expected had been installed over the weekend. Reviewed this with Theo the Hygebat Superintendent. Theo all of a sudden does not speak or understand my english! I make a call to the owner of Hygebat, Mugabo, and the owner of the Rwandan Architect Eudes, and request a meeting on site to resolve this issue. Mugabo again advises me that it will be corrected and that a new block making machine is being shipped in from Uganda. Met with Mugabo and Eudes on Wednesday. I again made it very clear that all block work had to be removed and quality block had to be manufactured and installed. Smooth block face and no chipped corners. There I was in the middle of these 2, Theo, 2 of their forman, the man making the blocks and a couple guys who lay the block, all speaking very fast Kenyarwanda about the situation which I have no idea what they are saying. Probably something along the lines of how can we get rid of this SOB from America! There conversation ends and Mugabo tells me that all block will be removed and he guarantees quality block with new machine. Requested that we travel back to Kigali to review the school St Ignaus so i can show him the quality I am looking for which we did. Traveled back to his yard to see new block machine just delivered. Feeling pretty good that the issue is finally resolved but no, another lost in translation situation occurs when I go to the site on Saturday. The good news is that the new machine is making the quality blocks that I am expecting. The bad news is that no walls have been removed. Theo explains that another sample wall will be made for my approval Monday and then they will remove walls at my direction. No sense in arguing as this is their way of business. Will hope for final resolution on Monday to my satisfaction. Sorry for the long drawn out story but trying to give you a feel on how difficult it is to get things done over here.
Aside from the block issue construction is actually going along well. Most of the building foundations are complete and hopefully walls will move ahead quickly. A couple of the pictures attached show rock being placed under the floor slabs. They call this Hardcore. Slabs will be placed on top of hardcore once roof is installed and interior walls have been plastered.
Was out on the ISAR Farm to review their irrigation pumping system from the lake to use same technology for our system. Beautiful farm. The attached pictures of the grass hut is where one of the farm workers lives. You can see his cot and the fire he has going inside. These are quite typical in the rural farming areas.Thought you would enjoy.
RGI has provided us with a car here in Kigali. Will be a nice change. Took it for a spin to Gashora Saturday and around town today. Stopped in at a travel agency today who is located in the hotel the movie Hotel Rwanda was based on. Want to plan a trip to see the mountain gorillas and also a short safari.
Not anymore other news. I am looking forward to 2 week break back in Seattle on September 7th. Glad I planned this from the beginning as it will definitely be required. Take care.

Week Four

All is well here in Kigali. The project is moving along well. Started block walls this week. Have been advising the contractor of my quality expectations for the last few weeks which they forgot all about when they started putting the block in place. Had to reject 50% of what was installed. I am anxious to see re-work results this next week. The contractor's engineers are struggling with design, cant keep the pace and committments they have made. Had a "CTJ" meeting with the owner of the company Friday which was quite heated, but we shook hands at the end. He thanked me for pushing them along. I thanked him for his good work so far. I am hopeful they can catch up with the design and pricing requirements. Finding my time on the jobsite well served. Many questions to answer due to the fact we have only conceptual drawings at best from US Architect. No big suprise as is same when building in US!! Find myself drawing many sketches. Difficult to explain details in the field with the language barrier. Interesting after you spend 5 minutes explaining something and you look the person in the eye and ask if they understand. You know they did not when you see a blank stare, so you start all over with a different approach. The process is the same when they are trying to explain something to me. To thier credit, the 2 or 3 folks on site that I deal with speak 2 to 3 languages, usually Kenyarwanda, french, and english.
Went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center yesterday. Quite a emotionally moving memorial, very well done. Over 250,000 people from the genocide are buried there in mass graves. Hard to imagine that approx 1 million people were murdered in the genocide which lasted 100 days. There are various memorials around the country. Reminds me how small my personel troubles are. France, Belguim, and the United Nations should be ashamed.
Went shopping at the outdoor market today. A amazing market with a vast array of vegetables, fruit, chicken, fish, beef, goat, pig, nuts, flour, rice, and on and on.
Paid $250 francs for a pineapple which is less than 50 cents. Meat is not quite as cheap as I paid about $5 for a whole chicken and $6 for a nice piece of talapia fish. They have large freezers at the market for the meet but still suspect. If in the US it would be closed down by the Health Dept. Have no bugs yet that I am aware of!
One of the pictures I am posting is of the motorcycle taxis. I use them frequently as they are much cheaper than a car taxi. Quite the exiting ride in the traffic here. A 2 mile cab ride will cost you 2000 francs whereas by moto taxi it costs 400 francs. Traffic here is pretty wild. The horn is a much used accessory. Cars rule, motorcycles are next and pedestrians are last! Look both ways 2 times before crossing a street. Vehicle emmissions are terrible. I wonder if they still use leaded fuel here. Almost all the automobiles here are used cars imported from Japan.
Sitting at my front porch sipping a Mutzig as I write this post. About 3pm. Will be watching the World Cup finals tonight. May head to Heaven Resturant to watch. Have had my fill of soccer but sad to see it end as there is nothing else to watch on TV here. Had a small world experience at Heaven Restuarnt as the manager I met is from Portland and another young lady I met there is from Friday Harbor. Arielle from FH went to school with girls whose mother was a cheerleader at FH when I played ball at Skykomish and is a old girlfriend of Dan Boffey when we were at WSU. That was worth at least 2 more Mutzigs!
Will miss the Oldtimers Picnic in Skykomish next weekend. Susie, sell lots of our cookbooks. Any Skykomish Oldtimers reading this post please say hello to Teddy Jo for me and have a few at the Whistling Post for me.
Take Care and will talk soon.

ps: Mom, I hope you enjoy the picture of my 12 new girlfriends! Can't find the spell check, may be the Mutzig!

Week Three

Today is the end of week 3 for me here in Rwanda. I am working an extreme amount of hours getting my arms around the project and implementing management tools. Exhausted but enjoying the experience. Down to my last tin of Copenhagen as planned. Glad I had a supply for the first few weeks. Next couple of weeks without should be very interesting and painful. Brought a box of nicotine gum with me to ease the pain. Hopefully I survive!!
Construction progress is going very well. Was on site yesterday and we are very close to completing all stone wall and concrete foundations. Concrete ground beams are now proceeding on top of the stone walling. Completed my review of structural, mechanical,and electrical drawings this week. Blocks for walls are being produced on site as per the attached pictures. Discussed quality issues with the contractor and requested they build a mock up of wall for my review and approval. I do not think they are used to anyone reviewing/QC'g and commenting on their design and or construction quality. I try to be pleasently firm. There are currently +/- 150 workers on site. Laborers make between 1000 and 1500 RWF per day and stone masons make 3000 RWF per day. $1 US dollar equals 580 RWF which equates to making $1.70 to $5.17 per day. Very cheap for labor.
Was reading a blog from a young lady I met the other day and the title of one of her posts was "Lost in Translation". It was a excellent post as it reminded me just how difficult it is to understand conversations due to the different languages and mis-intepret the conversation. This is true both ways. I listen very carefully to conversations and alot of times must ask the person to repeat what they said to make sure I understand. You get most of it but not all of it which makes it difficult. Have found it to be important to ask if they understand what I have just said. Even with all this you walk away from the conversation wondering if you or they understood what was just said!
I have been watching alot of the World Cup. Very popular here. What we call soccer they call football. Quite the topic of conversation with everyone.
I hope you are all enjoying this 4th of July. We are so fortunate for what we have in the US.