Day Ten

For our last day on site, Amit arranged for us all to move to a new location and assist in the pouring of a cement roof. A big effort is made to frame our work here as a complete project, so I know he worked hard to give us this experience. Considering the nature of our work to date, I was happy to try something different. The project site was a brick house in the same style as the ones on which we worked, but the exterior walls were complete. The stairs had not yet been built, and the roof was supported by a network of bamboo poles wedged in place with bricks and two by fours. This extra support was to hold up the wet cement while it dried and could then support itself. Since a lot of cement was required, the homeowners rented a cement mixer to keep a constant flow at the ready. To mix that much cement by hand as we did for the brick mortar would have taken more time than we had. The mixer was an old diesel model that coughed out a cloud of pollution as it sprung to life. I was standing in the worst possible place and felt enveloped.

The idea was to form an assembly line from the mixer on the ground up to the masons on the roof. A few guys traded off shoveling the fresh cement into shallow bowls. Those were handed up a chain of people where it was spread out from the back to the front of the roof. Negotiating between the bamboo supports was a bit tricky and because there were no stairs, laborers had to perch on platforms connected by ramps of rebar to get the bowls lifted up each level. Up on the roof, we passed the bowls to the mason who tossed the cement out from the bowl into thick blobs that coated a rebar frame. We had about six bowls going at any one time. They’d be passed down empty as fresh bowls were passed up. It felt like we made quick work of it. About halfway through, we hoisted up some type of device with a long hose attached. It looked like an iron shopvac. Other people seemed to know what it was, but I’d never seen this before. After pull starting the motor with a cord that had to be hand wound after each attempt, the whole contraption vibrated. The hose was submerged into the choppy cement where it seemed to bubble a bit. In an instant, the rocky and unevent cement into smoother, soup-like cement. A nice and level roof. After a few more square feet of roof was covered, I moved down to the ground floor and helped with the shoveling. And a bit later we were done.

I accept that our presence saves the homeowners the cost of a few laborers. I also appreciate the fact that Habitat caters to its donors and lets them see where their money is being invested. But there’s no way around the fact that our biggest contribution to the Bawana community is our mere presence, and our committed interest in helping in whatever way we can. Amit explains to the home owners that the money Habitat contributes towards their homes comes from us, and that because of our wealth, we are allowed to assist in the build. There’s more truth in that, than if he were to tell them we were donating our time to help them build. Our lack of skill would make that a poor gift. Whatever the homeowners think of our physical contribution, I do believe they appreciate our interest and our intent. The sadness I feel on leaving the site is only partially from my desire to keep contributing, and to see things change. A big part is also from guilt that I get to leave while everyone else has to stay. We are tourists here, and will take these memories home to our western lives and feed off them when we’re feeling materialistic. But maybe our biggest contribution lays somewhere in there as well. By far, our presence was most appreciated by the children. I’ve written of how novel they found us, and what amusement we brought. Our departure might raise some question about where we came from, and where we go back to. In the same way the visiting circus fills childrens’ heads with thoughts of escape to a larger world, maybe our visit plants a seed of the trees that lay beyond Bawana. The optimist in me hopes that’s the case and gives me something I can hang my hat on when I think about what I really contributed here.

The rest of our day was filled with closing activities. We met with each of the homeowners and gave them a gift of kitchenware for their new homes. We received our certificates of completion and commemorative t-shirts. We had a team dinner, feasting on mugal cuisine from recipes passed down by the chefs of the foreign kinds of India. It was exactly the sort of commencement one would expect, with speeches of appreciation from the program leaders and our team leader. When I think of the complexities of hosting so many people, so far from home, I’m surprised these projects go off at all. It’s impressive that Habitat has worked out a methodology for so quickly integrating us into these very far off places. While it is a form of tourism, it offers a unique view into foreign life unavailable even to most locals. Time will tell if I’ve caught Habitat Fever, or will return to more traditional travel. Regardless, this is an experience that will stay with me.