Day 1 of Build

September 26, 2008 by Karin.

Finally, the big day arrived!

On Monday morning, our vans pulled up to the construction site of dreams: a foundation awaiting attention, blue skies above, shiny red roof sitting on the grass, the curious cast of Mongolians, even our own construction ger. The hard jobs, digging the toilet and foundation, were taken care of before we had arrived. It was time for us to contribute.

These were the Mongolians we worked with (from R-L): Hoghi (our interpreter), Puugee (of the construction team), Bayra (future home owner), Mogii (brother of Bayra and future resident of house), Erdnee (our speedy bus driver), Batdolgor (social worker), and Tseveen (the master builder).

We were delighted to see that construction workers in Mongolia  favored loose pajama style pants with tapered legs. Hard hats were also on site but were less popular.

 We started the day with circle time. Kim led us in a meditative breathing and Angela asked us to set an intention for the day. It was one of my favorite parts of the day, especially the thought that from an outsider’s point of view, we may resemble a cult.

With the help of Hoghi, our construction boss explained that he would teach the four most qualified members of our team what to do and they would teach the rest of us. That worked…to some extent, for with 17 pairs of hands itching to pitch in, you can imagine how the demand for work overwhelmed the leaders’ ability for job assigning.  

So we rolled back our sleeves, slathered on another layer of sunscreen and jumped in. We made a fire line to distribute cement blocks around the house foundation. We picked up shovels and engaged in the (truly back breaking) labor of mixing cement. We were teams of three, even four, to lay down the rows of cement blocks…one block at a time. Never mind that we didn’t have enough spades to go around, we filled in the mortar with our bare gloved hands!

 lunch inside our construction ger

 Look Ma - two hands!

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