container 5

The day started out not too bad. We got a text at 6:30am stating that the 5th container would arrive at the site that morning. But let’s be honest, this is Africa. So we slowly get up, walk around, eat some bread and tea for breakfast. We check on the containers, come back and talk about the boat till noon, when we see the cranes arrive to unload the container from the truck. but where is the truck? “oh, it is only 20 minutes behind us.” …right. An hour later the truck rolls in, on time by African standards. Americans, im not joking. So we tell them what we need them to do, show them where we want it set, and show them the area we prepared for the cranes. The guys have a lot of experience with this sort of machinery, so they know what is and isn’t possible.

The Ugandans with the cranes spend the next 3 hours lifting and releasing the container cuz its stuck to the truck. then they say it is too heavy, even tho they have been lifting the container and the truck together. So we allow them to unload the two heavy stacks of wood. They pull one halfway out, put a strap around the middle, then try to switch which strap is attached to the crane hook. The guy switching the straps is also the counterweight on the stack of wood. Who can see this coming? They drop the stack of wood. Flips right out of the back of the container. Bryce directs and guides the second stack.

And guess what? They still fail at lifting the container off the truck. shocker. A half hour later somehow, magically even, the container lifts free. They drive the truck out, and set it down. But they need to reposition the container so we can get into the 4th container. But one of the cranes drives out of its perfect position, and gets ready to leave. He cant back up into the position again. Its uphill into a garden. He can only drive down the hill, but he has decided he is too sick to finish the job, therefore the whole crane must leave. Then the other drives away from his position. …what is happening. With enough anger, the guys convince the second driver to try again. He cant do much pushing the container from the wrong end. Much arguing ensues. Finally the head Ugandan agrees to have everyone come tomorrow and try again if we got the ground ready, again. They agreed to do it for free. Dang straight it will be for free. Tis a pity we paid in advance for the day of failed work.

We had the ground ready within an hour of when they all left. That’s American work for you.

We have noticed that we could have done any construction job around here better than they did. Or anything having to do with construction. Cutting trees, big machinery, making wood boards, building houses, or any concrete. The problem is getting the materials of good enough quality. Or the tools. The age of good construction has not arrived in Uganda yet. One man asked Bob if American concrete work was as good as Ugandan. Bob found new depths of tact when he responded that it was at least as good. The concrete here crumbles at the touch. The bricks aren’t square. Scratch that, nothing is square. Welcome to building in Uganda.

The next day it rained so the cranes didn’t want to start till 3pm. Oh, and it changed from two cranes to one. I left to go buy a fridge in town (turns out it doesn’t work properly, but we can exchange it). The guys had to hire Ugandans to unload and load most of the container so the crane could move it. Good grief. only 2 days to place one container. not bad for ugandan work.