Raw Materials

We are finally reopening construction on the new clinic and that means buying a lot of raw material for making concrete. We are able to buy sand shoveled from our local river, and we buy aggregate from several of our neighboring villages, who take large rocks and break them by hand (ok, with hammers) into small rocks. This industry allows us to do construction work and provides employment for many who would otherwise have no way to make a living—the aged, the crippled, even the blind (they are professionals; don’t try swinging a hammer at a stone you are steadying with your hand with your eyes closed at home). The community is very happy to get money for their work and the purchasing process allows me to practice counting in Ngakarimojong since we measure the stones out by basin.