After the bridge

Now the bridge is finished Ben has been trying to work on the other side – the road.  To do the road he needed an excavator.  We don’t have an excavator.  He was wanting to contract one and there was one nearby – but not immediately nearby.  The other complicating issues were that the rains have been waiting just at the door – ready to burst in, and also that our project was just not that big.  We wanted to spend about $5000 to repair the road, build up the dam walls (I think that is what it was) and to dig a swimming pool (yes!).  All together it wasn’t a huge project – especially as Ben wanted to just do key bad spots in the road and not a major road build.  His friends who own all the necessary equipment were just next door – about 10km away but they were waiting for the rain so that they had an excuse to say no.  It rained last Saturday – and so Ben got a call soon after saying, sorry, but he couldn’t come. 

So no contractors. No excavator.  No good road – this year at least.  The next idea is to get piles of river gravel.  Then to pile them at the bad spots.  Then to make ruts and fill the ruts in with the gravel.  That should work, you think?  Also on the plan now is to buy a winch. 

The rains last Saturday made this next little project fun.  Ben has been collecting wood over the last few years.  Any downed or dead tree he has found, he has had sawed up and the boards stored under our house or in our yard.  Not all the trees obviously but lots.  Enough for a truckload of wood to fit into a large truck.  One of our friends has one of these large many-wheeled-drive trucks with a huge winch.  He wasn’t too worried about the trip.  On Tuesday, they loaded the truck up with all the spare wood, one of the sheds that we had in our yard taken apart (for easy reassembling on site so that Ben will have a tool shed right away), and some tin we had purchased a while back.  On Wednesday, he left early in the morning.  Things were fine to the village but by the river, the Saturday rains and the heavy load finally took its toll and the river banks were soft!  Only by 7pm had they unloaded the truck (at about 3 locations – to lighten the load to get out of bogs), and were back at the village and could finally eat (lunch or dinner). They all were very tired and I think the guy will think twice before helping us again!

So now Ben has his wood.  He is planning on building the first building which will be temporary accommodation for us and anyone helping out.  We probably can’t move our house out there until the dry season.

The Bridge

Final Bridge Building Crew

The bridge is finished finally.  Well mostly.  It was actually mostly finished a few weeks ago but we have been super busy with some ADRA stuff so haven’t had a moment to update the progress.  They finished two bridges.  A lower heavy duty bridge that is meant to be usable in the wet season and is expected to be flooded out during the rains.  Also a higher motorbike / horse cart bridge that is a swinging bridge.  They were build with entirely volunteer village labour so many people were involved – switching every day.

Next phase is the road repair which is proving more tricky.  Finding a contractor to come out to the middle of nowhere with all their equipment, excavator, bulldozers etc., is proving difficult.  We also want to do it sooner than later, the rains are coming!

Adding support cables

Car Bridge - almost done

Ben's week at the Game Reserve - by Ben

Well,  another week down with only 5 weeks to go until the monsoon rains hit in full force (could be a lot sooner but hopefully this year will be “ average”.   Work on the bridge has been taking up all of my time and energy.  We are making progress, have the cables up ready for boards but no boards.  They have to be cut with a chainsaw but getting that has been taking longer than I thought it would.  All the chainsaw people seem to have a million other things to do.  We also finally finished the blasting for the foundation in the river bed without any accidents.  Now we have to get the two, 24 foot posts up and that has proven to be harder than I had thought.  Spent most of Friday trying to do that with about 15 villager volunteers but it didn’t happen.  Will try again Monday.    Still trying to eliminate poaching and logging in my free time as well.   Have been trying to coordinate with the forestry Administration to raid the camps scattered around the community forest.  They made some arrests last month but there are still plenty operating.  Also poachers shooting the banteng and deer.  Also heard that a gaur was shot this week but haven’t confirmed that.  Hopefully we can get the bridge and road done in time to save at least a remnant of the wildlife.

Ta Boh and the bridge

The girls and I decided to go visit Ben and Savuth on Monday.  Amelie was dying to see and help out on the bridge building.  So with Ben having left home at 6am on the motorbike, we packed up the car and headed out a little bit later.  The road there from our house is mostly pretty good.  There is about 40 km (40 minutes for me) of good road (sealed).  Then 15 km (30 minutes) of bad dirt road to get to the district town of Songkum Thmey.  From there, is a brand new dirt road that goes all the way to the Preah Khan temple complex, and the village of Ta Boh is about 20 km down that road.  We get to a red painted house and turn left and then drive into the village – about 7 km in off that good road.  This is mostly oxcart looking road.  There are two bridges – one that we saw being built last year with very interesting construction methods and another that they just built, yet to be opened.  The first bridge is pretty long and only just wide enough for a car.  It creaks as you drive along it.  When they were building it this is how they cemented the posts into the ground:  1. Place the post;  2. Dump big rocks into the hole; 3. Mix the sand and cement dry; 4. Dump that mix into the hole;  5. Pour water on top;  6. Cross your fingers in hope that it works.  They told us they were just trying this out to see how it would work.  Innovation and experimentation!  That is what we are always trying to teach people in development.

So, you can imagine I was somewhat wary driving over the bridge.  Had the girls get out of the car and run across first.  Then followed creakingly along.  There is a very steep part at the beginning which needed me to put the car into 4WD.  I managed to do that without having to look at the manual.  Made it across. 

Got to the village after about 20 minutes of leaving the good road.  Stopped at the Commune Chief’s house where Ben is staying and said hello.  Tried to call Ben and tell him that we had arrived – he was out at the bridge and not answering his phone.  So started along on the way.  Went along fine till I got a call from Ben, “Stop! You can’t drive out here.. I need to come meet you so you don’t tear up the car!”  I had already passed the first bit he was worried about – a little stretch with a big rock and a very narrow bit.  He normally goes on top of the rock!  I didn't.  But I didn't scrape anything.

So we stopped and waited for him to arrive – then had to drive back to the big rock where he took the bike to the village and walked back to the car and became our driver.  Finally made it out to the bridge construction site.  We quickly ate watermelon and sardines and rice for lunch.  Ben was out with the chainsaw supervising them cutting up dead trees.  They were wanting to sabotage his project and cut down green trees!  Meanwhile back at the bridge, the team washed rocks, placed a pole, mixed up cement, sand and water, put rocks in around the pole and dumped in the cement mixture. Hmmm.  Slightly better method - maybe.  Gravel is hard to find.  Amelie was given a school project to document the steps to building a swinging bridge which she did, eventually.

The day quickly finished.  Everyone had a swim or splash in the river – their bath for the day.  Loaded up and went home.

So we drove back to the village.  Ben managed to tear the running board off the side of the car.  Luckily he was driving.  The girls had gone first with the truck and we met them playing at the water pump.  Everyone else watching them.  Eventually had a bath.  I had to work out how to cook a curry on a fire stove.  I tried to teach the lady of the house how to cook potatoes in a kind of curry.  She wasn’t really paying attention.  Ben wanted her to learn how to cook Black Eyed peas for him – kind of pinto bean style.  But we’ll see.  I left a kilo or so there for her.  I cooked a potato, green bean curry with a handful of black eyed peas in it using Indian curry powder.  No one really knew how to eat it.  The Commune chief said he “ot jeh” which means “don’t know how.”  A very handy phrase if you can’t or won’t eat something new.  Also applies to alcohol, cigarettes, meat, and anything pretty much.  “I ot jeh eat vegetables!” is what Jarrah has been saying lately.  

At night time, a DVD goes on, a Khmer dubbed Thai soap opera.  Miscellaneous people who don’t have their own DVD wander in to watch also.  Our kids wanted to watch “Man Versus Wild” so they went outside and watched that on Ben’s computer.  Soon had an audience there too.  Both the girls love watching this show for some unknown reason.  I guess it is good for them to learn survival skills - may just need them sooner than we think.

Movies over.  Beds laid out.  Mosquito nets hung.  Under the net, it is very hot.  And it is not even April.  Went to sleep fanning Jarrah and Amelie with a clipboard.  Actually Jarrah said we took turns.  She did fan me some.

The next morning, Ben went off to work again and the girls and I packed up to go home.  We took six other ladies who were all going to the police station to fix up their Family Books.  The would walk home – just seven kilometres, before lunch.  That is one thing about this place, people just walk everywhere.  The grown up daughter of the house we were staying in was going to work in their fields for the day.  She cooked her lunch and took it.  She was going to walk to her field,  about an hour away.  She then works hard all day and walks home.  She even had a good lunch of fried deer meat with wintermelon.  A pretty healthy day for her I would say. 

So we dropped off those ladies.  Drove to the District town and bought some steering oil (apparently I had driven from Rovieng with no steering fluid which is apparently not very good for the car).  Bought some snacks for the ever hungry one.  And drove home stopping at Rovieng market to buy 20 eggs and the last 3 baguettes of bread for lunch.  It was nice to be home.  The girls cooked pizza for dinner too – pretty much all by themselves!

Swinging bridge posts

Placing the post

Cement mixing Posing for picture

Cementing the post

Washing rocks

Schoolwork

Washing more rocks

Happy faces

Did you ever see such a dirty face?

Our week

Our life at present is not kind.  Every Monday, Ben has been packing up his tools and equipment and heading out to “the game reserve” as we have been calling the forest where this is all happening.  So the girls and I get to hang out at home on our lonesome.  We are trying to catch up on schoolwork and normality after a crazy 2012.

Ben stays at the Commune Chief's house and his wife kindly cooks for him.  He is eating a lot of “pounded salt” and rice.  Unless he plans ahead and takes some food.  There isn’t much to eat there.  The market is a good hour away.  There are no vegetable gardens and little fish.

So, we talk on the phone and I get updates that way.  Nice that Cambodia has such great phone range.  Even in the forest, there is phone service.

He has been coming home on Thursdays.  This week he is coming home tomorrow (Friday).  Right now, he is building a bridge.  Last Thursday, our good friend and old work colleague, Savuth, from New Zealand came to help Ben for the next 3 months or so.  He will be a big help.  Especially with the bridge building.  They are building a swinging bridge over a river (or is it a creek) that mostly flows in the wet season – so nice to work at the moment.  There is bedrock in the bottom of the creek bed.  So Ben and his dynamite blasted away some of the rock so they could put posts into the bottom of the creek bed.  I know nothing about construction so this should be explained better later by a professional. 

This afternoon, they went out with about 10 or so forestry administration people and caught two woodcutters from Kompong Thom.  They come a long way to get wood.  I won’t put too many details here as I don’t know them but they arrested the two me and confiscated their chainsaws.  We’ll see what this means.

So, that is the news of the week.  Still another day, but so far an exciting week in Ben’s forest. 

PS.  Really need to think of a better name there.  It definitely isn’t  Ben’s forest.  In our house, we have been calling it the “Game Reserve”.  There isn’t much game really.  Deer.  Banteng apparently (a type of wild cow).  A couple of years ago someone spotted a serrow.  A bird survey needs to be done.   But there have been some promising reports of Giant Ibis and some sort of duck!  (I’m not a birder obviously).  Digressing too much from ending.  So this is the end.