Building a Community Center in Ghana

Well, today was a chance for me to have a whole definition of being on “African soil.” We were not just on it, we were (at times) knee deep in the red dirt, covered in it head to toe.

As our first official day of building, we had to do one of the most basic things when it comes to construction: clearing the field. That is, leveling the considerable slope where our building will eventually sit. Before we arrived, the workers over the past few weeks had started the process by removing large chunks of concrete embedded in the ground and clearing a considerable amount of earth. Nonetheless, there was still plenty for us to do when we got there this morning.

Using three wheelbarrows, five picks, ten shovels, and five head pans, we began taking chunks out of the remaining slope of the hill in between the site and the existing buildings. As we dug, we ran into more of the old foundation buried beneath the soil. It is amazing to think that foundation is one hundred years old, and it wouldn’t budge until we took the picks to it.

To make sure everyone was being used to their full advantage, the workers and J gave us all a brief lesson in pick axing. While, personally, I am pretty bad at it, everyone seemed to very much enjoy picking over shoveling. It could be because we all miss our American long-handled shovels with very sharp tips (as compared to the waist-high square shovels we are using), but I think it is the rhythm you get going: winding up and bringing the heavy metal tip crashing into the ground with a satisfying thud and spray of dirt as you bring it up around your head.

As we were clearing the slope, J and several of the students began roping off where the foundation will sit. After it was all roped off, several of the workers used the picks to scratch into the dirt where we would eventually begin digging the one-foot (or a little more) trenches.

Again, wielding picks and shovels, we scurried around the site taking turns using the tools. The workers, who can work about ten times faster than us, would stand by watching us work, and as soon as we showed the slightest sign of tiring, they would take the tools and accomplish way more than we could even hope for.

Miraculously, despite the flying dirt, working close together, shovels, and picks, no one got hurt.

By the end of the day, we had a maze of deep trenches. They vary in depth to match the slope of the hill (at some places, they are a little over a foot deep and they get as deep as about four feet). Tomorrow, we will fill them with concrete and put in the foundation walls.

All in all, it seems like an incredibly productive day!