Monday July 27 2009 - Working and Touring

Last Thursday and Friday Justin spent most of our time at the workshop with Cham as he built the first prototype of our design. We went with him to get materials and then stayed at his workshop for most of the day describing our design as he began to construct the wheel. It was interesting to watch him bend this steel which at home we would have some special machine to make it into a perfect circle but here he just used a hammer and two supports until he arrived at the desired shape. By the end of the week the wheel had been completed and we just needed to visit the site to determine exactly how to construct the supports for the wheel.

On Sunday we all decided to be tourists and book a day long river boat tour to visit a village on the North Bank and James Island. It was pretty cool to be able to see another village and learn the history of that village and the role both the village and the island played in the slave trade. It was definitely a little weird to all of a sudden become a tourist in a country that we have been living in for 10 weeks though. It was also interesting because it was clear that some of the people of the village, especially the children, put on a bit of a show because they know that tourists will be coming through the area. There were so many kids singing and dancing in the streets as we walked by but after having lived in a compound in a village for 4 weeks I know that isn't typically how the kids act. It made me think that might be what some of the other people on the tour will think of the villages since that might be the only chance they get to visit a village in the country.

Today we were able to go visit the site where we will be installing our redesigned pump to get s few final mesasurements. We then went to the workshop and worked with Cham again for most of the day trying to finish up the axle and stand for the wheel. It started to rain so we will have to go back tomorrow to finish it up and then we will finally get to test it!