Inaguration Day

The DEO of Bardiya inaugurates the building site

Day 1, Monday the15th of September

Hi everyone. I shall take you through each day of this construction period with a little diary of events. Hope you will join me and share our challenges and joys.

Today was very exciting, colourful and full of ceremonies. Early in the morning the Office bearers of BASE Bardiya started what we called a participatory inauguration with one person laying the first block for each corner. Later the District Education Officer for Bardiya Mr. Ram Prasaad came and laid the block for the last corner.

Before the actual construction started we had an orientation for the Masons and then one for the community volunteers to stress the fact that it is not just a building but rather the future - their own children's and Nepal's, that they will be building.

Volunteers of the project

Aprons for Dignity
I had a hard time making some of the ladies wear the blue aprons as they were too shy. We made these aprons to bring some respect and dignity to their shramdaan voluntary labour and hoping that they would also uphold this dignity by not whiling away the day gossiping, as happens in the traditional begari form of voluntary labour. Of course it also protects their clothes. The masons wore red aprons and the organisers and guests wore green. By the way, any visitor is welcome to join in the shramdaan. You just put on the green apron and get going.

This is how earth quake proof ring beams look

Too fast

By mid day we started being worried, rather seriously, as we saw a big problem coming. But it was the kind of problem which one would pray to have. It appeared that at the speed it was going, the building won't last 20 days! Therefore we may need to pre-pone (I like this word!) the closing ceremony for which the DOE Chief Engineer and a team of engineers is coming from Kathmandu.

By the end of the day we had laid two courses of blocks and cast the RCC for the plinth beam.

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Progress at the end of Day 1