In the Shade of the Mango tree! Sometimes you get to Celebrate!

Among many other projects, we completed a school, and they wanted to Celebrate!

    So we undertook a construction project in Keur Soce, Senegal, and finished a couple of classrooms at a school that really needed help.  Prior to our effort, they were meeting in grass huts, dusty and hot, that didn't last long and burnt down regularly.  

    So once this project was done recently, and they knew we were coming, they wanted to have an official ceremony with a whole bunch of dignitaries and speeches.  They wanted to thank Andando Foundation for getting this done.  Normally this is not my favorite kind of thing.  Long winded speeches wear thin pretty quick.

    But hey, let's all enjoy the moment.  They were extremely pleased and wanted to celebrate, they even raised the Senegalese flag and sang the national anthem.  It's kind of a big thing when you start a school in the dirt, and then bingo, you have high quality concrete classrooms. 

    So we actually arrived early, but started late.  Let me explain.  Africans have a different attitude toward time.  You could write a book about the way Africans treat time.  It is SO different from America or Europe.  We say things like "killing time"  or "wasting time" but Africans would never say that, time is a luxury that is to be enjoyed and savored, and filled with ... whatever it takes to fill time.  In this case - speeches!

    But you have to keep things in perspective, and they were happy and whether or not I want to sit through a boring repetitive presentation, they were honoring us.  

There is always a need for plumbers wherever you are

    We have been building a "health post" in a remote village for a while.  The plumbing was a challenge and (since I used to be a plumber in my earlier years) I was the chosen one to do the plumbing and today I went to put some finishing touches on the "clinic".

    I have claimed a couple guys who are good helpers and here we are underneath the sink pounding a hole in the conrete to get a pipe run.

    So we got the job done and Fiona captured a picture of me with a smile on my face.  Hey, getting things done here is not easy, did I mention that before?

    It has been rewarding working in Senegal for many years with our Andando Foundation.  There is more to do ... we just have to be ready to spend ... the ... time!