On Thursday, February 14th we came to the end of a long road. It was time to pour the cement for the roof of the guest house on Lagonav. It had taken just over 2 weeks to prepare everything for the big day. I was able to make my way over to the island with my Dad who was visiting. This is what we saw.
The plywood was held up by metal poles. The rebar was ready, stretching over the whole roof. The workers, about 50 altogether, were mixing cement, taking them to the roof one bucket at a time and pouring them into place.
Once the bucket brigade brought the cement onto the roof it was poured on. we arrived at about 1PM and they had completed about a third of the roof. Some of it was already hardening.
The cement mixer broke down at about 3PM. Everyone say around for an hour as they tried to get it running. No luck so they began to mix the cement by hand on the ground. Hard work. One bag of cement, two buckets of water, two buckets of gravel, a bucket of sand - mix it all together. Then up to the roof.
The men had been working since about 5AM. As they sun began to set it became apparent that the job was going to take some hours. Work stopped and the negotiations with the big boss began for more money. Guys left, then came back. They were singing, some loud arguing. But in the end everyone wanted their money and the job was completed at about 10:30PM.
N.B more videos to be added to this article soon.
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