mandag 18. januar 2010

What went wrong and who's to blame


I guess this day was when we started realising that we were not going to be done by the planned date. I will therefore focus only on the negative and in an utterly subjective way identify where the problems occurres on any typical day and point the finger of shame in the general direction of who’s to blame.

Things that takes more time than it should during a typical day and who is to blame:

1.Breakfast.
Morning starts at 7 a.m. dawn. Objects necessary to conduct the series of activities commonly summed up with the word breakfast start to appear at 7.30 a.m. and the last of these objects are generally at the table around 8 a.m. The students who also, it seems, are also an imperative to the conduction of the previously mentioned act of breakfast appear at an even more stretched out interval, say 7.am to 8.30 am.

To blame: Slow students, and a bit the kitchen.



2.Carrying equipment, materials and water.
Once at the site, usually later than expected and with the comforting shadow receding and increasingly menacing sun, work doesn’t start up at once. Do to local bad apples that reportedly steal everything that is not literally nailed down, materials, tools and whatever else is required for a working day to be carried out from a locked up storage somewhat 200m away from the site.

To blame: Up to no good locals, and slow students.

Ingrid and Ida carrying things that is not yet nailed down.


3.Getting annoyed with unfamiliar materials.
Wood shaped like a banana in several directions. 2”x 6” that more resembles 1,5” - 3,5” x 4” – 6”. Wood that is to wet and too heavy and too dense, and not long enough. Beautiful drawings are composed and planned by eager western student minds the previous night. Too much time is thereafter required to morn the failed plans and to reach the conclusion that we have to make a long piece of wood by joining together tree, four or five pieces of wood. Just like we learned in carpenter school that we shouldn’t do since doing this will leave the piece less strong and certainly fail and kill everyone.

To blame: Hard dense stupid endangered jungle trees, and students with too high expectations and to little sense of adaptation.


4.Finding the right tools for the job.
It sounds like your standard tip from any self-help book. But when the right tool for the job is the only tool we have and someone else is using it finding the right tool for the job becomes a habit that consumes lots of time and lots of excess will to live.

To blame: The instant-gratification generation student who thinks the wait for the light to come on when one turns a switch is too long.

Ingrid finally got her hands on our one set of spanners.


5.Lunch
Lunch is usually served between 12.pm and 3.30 pm. Students feast on the food for about 15 min and spend the next hour laying on the grass in the shade drained from the events of 1,2,3, and 4 and the scorching mid day sun.

To blame: Slow kitchen, too hot African sun, badly acclimatised student.




6.Carrying inn all the materials, tools, and such to prevent it being stolen by thieving local bad apples.

Work has to be ended some 45 min before the light disappears around 7.30 p.m, to start to carrying in the stuff that one started making this morning, but due to the delays of 1,2,3,4,5 it is not finished and you have not yet nailed it down to the rest of the structure.

To blame: Same locals as in the morning. Mostly them.

This was only a few of the reasons we are going to miss our deadline. If you have any more suggestions, please feel free to mention them here.

Rune

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