June 2, 2014 - Clearing The Land

Some of the villagers called for a day of volunteer work and on June 2 more than 200 villagers came out to work. They are overjoyed that the work is starting. Many helped with clearning the area in front of the excavator, felling the trees and cutting wood into firewood for the workers/builders to use for the next many months for cooking, etc.

And, of course, many of the kids (future students) from the village were there, having fun and helping clear the brush, too.

These kids know how to work a cross cut saw!

Hitching up the bigger logs

And pulling them down the hill! Fun!!!

Momma with her future students of Sesawng School. "Don't worry, young man, you're gonna have a great school to go to."

The community ate together after clearing the land together

 

June 14, 2014 - Excavation Continues

Upper approach road.

Field of dreams starts. Looking across the Soccer Field (to be). The mound in the background is the original "highest point" of the land, from which we are measuring 20' to excavate.

From the highest point. Looking back from behind the High Point toward the upper entrance to the campus.

June 28, 2014 - Great Excavation Progress

We started staking out the approach road, and had an unresolved discussion with the excavator operator whether to start from the upper side or from the main road level, the issue exacerbated by the fact that the main road is to be extended (more on this later), and also we had not gotten permission to pile the excavated dirt from the nearby landowners who were not home, so instead, we had them work on the main building site (and field).

Main Road Extension: I talked with the Head Surveyor of the Public Works Department about the plan to extend (widen) the main road, and while it is not clear exactly when this work will start (this year, next year, or ???), it is part of the State Master Plan, so we do need to prepare for it. He said that it will probably follow the pattern of other highway extensions, which means that the road and shoulder will be extended 7 meters (23+ feet), with another 3 meters (10 feet) for sloping of the wall/embankment, a total of 10 meters. Since the other side of the road is a sheer drop-off all the way around, instead of splitting it 5 meters on either side, they're going to have to take all 10 meters from us. So that means that they will take 33+ feet from our property all the way around! Doesn't sound like all that much until you consider that our property has perhaps 2500 feet of road frontage, so they'll be taking more almost 2 acres from us! :-( (We do hope we'll get compensation from the government for this land, but that's not assured, and the compensation rates are not very high anyway.) In any case, we do need (Annette) to redraw the approach road taking this into consideration.

Also, as I've been looking at the roads here, I think we can afford to go quite a bit steeper on the grade of the approach road. I think we could possibly reduce the road length by 400', from 1200' down to 800', and still not have difficulty for cars, trucks and motorcycles. (Would that be a 15% grade?) For pedestrian traffic from the main road, we would build a long flight of steps all the way to the top (school/office level). I hope this can be incorporated in the next revised drawing, so I can keep the excavator working smoothly.

We will also be felling some of the teak :-((, and I have already told the villagers that we will try to use every little bit of this for the project, even to the point of using small branches to make some kind of momentos or donor gifts (key racks, coasters, etc.), and even the smallest branches for making chopsticks for Kawika! The bigger teak logs/sections will be saved for furniture for the Headmaster's house, and guest houses. Cutting these trees is slightly painful for me, but it is all for the project!

The approach from the upper road is getting better, as the Village authorities have been very cooperative, and the road has been surfaced with stone and concrete almost to the school site. The whole road is now paved, so we can drive straight up!