Week Eleven: Mayo Building Workshop hosted by Mayo Women’s Association – ‘Dalu for Development’

Featuring this week: Great progress, our last business class taught by Dr. Abdelgadir, and a picnic with Imam Ahmed al Mahdi at his farm in Omdurman - and some great rainy, stormy days!

Djo takes a picture of the happy team posing on the top of the dome right before the
Thursday rain storm 

It looks almost done, but we still have a meter or so before the very top

Sunday we had a group meeting first thing… Doc gave some encouraging words and told the team they were the next leaders and that they needed some persistence to push onward to the finish! 

Team gathers on our built in bench for Sunday morning encouragement for the week  

Tuesday morning at 0200 was haboob (dust storm) time again followed by a big rain, but the site was accessible and since the day was cool (relatively for the Sudan), the team made it pretty far. The domes will start to close this week and we will be plastering, and putting in the windows and electricity in the next few weeks.

Djo stands in the entrance dome while Adam steps through the arch to the second dome

Abeer takes a phone break in her
favorite window 

Djo looks up at how high
- Bernard sits in window

Another team meeting to discuss our picnic plans for Friday

Mujtaba, Rashid, Mathi and Djo hailing from the top

Rihad, Fatima, Lila, and Amjed getting goofy for the camera
while passing up the earth mixture to the team at the top

Saifadin takes a picture of Bernard and Engineer Mujtaba

We said farewell to Abdul Khareem and Muslim our mixer helpers this week
who were happy to pose with Abeer and Ahmed Ali (Dr. Turab)

Wednesday Professor Abdelgadir from the University of Khartoum's School of Business
taught his last class

Rihab stands
on the window frame

Mathi stands on the door frame
while Amjed and Abubaker sit at the top

Wednesday was our last business class, and it rained again on Thursday, so it was a ‘classroom’ day… a much needed review to empower the class to build on their own after the workshop is over. This slowed the building progress down a little, but built the knowledge of the class... both are lasting endeavors.

Djo talks about the basic steps of building a dome

The class understands the building method very well and
one of our team architects/engineers Mubarak will carry the technique back to Darfur
along with seven other team members

Djo demonstrates how the bags interlock

Bushara from the Mayo team helps Djo and Mathi
explain the steps to building domes with polypropylene bags, barbed wire and a
very small amount of cement to stabilize the earth

 

The team appreciates the down time from the outside work and the review of the
building process

As ever, the class loves to climb on the dome… it is a friendly sort of building that hugs you when you are in it…Thus it is the perfect type of building for trauma counseling centers in Darfur and other ‘post’ conflict areas.

Saifadin takes a picture of Rashid, Mubarak, and Abubaker on the dome

Teams passing the earth up the
center of the domes

Amjed hangs out at the top

Rihab steps out of a Gauguin painting

Imam Ahmed al Mahdi invited us all to his farm on the Nile for a picnic a few weeks ago, and this week he made good on the promise.

All of us by the Nile River with our host Imam Ahmed Al Mahdi in the center,
Mr. Wallace Bain the Chief Political Econ Officer from the U.S. Embassy on his left, the Deputy
Chief of mission Ms. Ellen Thorburn to his right, Imam's son Al Fadel in the beige vest and his daughter Fatima
kneeling to the right in beige and white

All of us on the grass with Imam Ahmed al Mahdi
Imam's daughter Fatima takes the picture so Doc can be in it  

Imam Ahmed and DCM Ellen - with Fatima, Asjad, and Najlaa - check out one of Imam's horses
her name translated from Arabic means 'Sky'
(who is just a bit skinny after running away for a few days)

Bushara takes a pic with Imam

Imam and Najlaa with Sky

Study in Red - the feast
(Abeer, Lila, Ahmed Ali, and Saifadin)

Lila takes a selfie with Big Red (well, we called Ahmed Abubaker 'Big White' on Friday
in his white jallabyya), Abeer, Amjed, Asjad, Rihab, and Mujtaba
NEVER ENOUGH SELFIES

Rashid takes a selfie with Mr. Wallace Bain and Mohammed Issa, while Bushara also takes a selfie

Abubaker, Mubarak, Saifadin, Ahmed Ali, Amjed, Mujtaba, and Suliman,
 goofing around with Djo and Mathi

The ladies pose for some last pics and selfies while a boat soundlessly rows on the Nile

The team has their sunset prayers by the Nile River before driving home

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