Surprise for the Work Crew

Today the first of the big/tall trees went down and got it on video. It was classic how the guys asked me 2-3 times if I was sure that the tree had to be chopped down. I also had to give a bit of advice on how to chop the tree so that it falls in a certain direction - for the safety of the guys and also not destroying the iron sheeting fence or the car, but all went well and the tree thundered down safely. This had been at the area designated for the workshop and was followed by another tall tree in the main entrance & parking area. Admittedly the second tree was much taller than the first and was in excess of 20m tall and took nearly everyone (20) to carry it to where we keep the cut trees.

As lunchtime arrived, I announced that Andy and I would be paying their wages and we would meet them at Hotel Ituze (small local restaurant with rooms) up the road for drinks. There was a moment of surprised silence before everyone burst out in big smiles and excited talk. Andy & I had decided to do this to reward the guys for work really well done over the last two weeks with increasing productivity.

The number of beer drinkers and non-alcohol drinkers was about 50/50 and we all had a great chat and some good laughs. They also asked that when we start again next week (when I'm back from Nairobi) that we setup their wages so they get paid daily, weekly or monthly as per individual choice. The English/Kinyarwanda lesson hour on Sundays will also begin then. It was obviously also necessary to tell them that the drinks is not something that will happen every week. These guys will now make up our core group in showing new starters the ropes etc as they know what we want and how we want it done.

I set off to Kigali today and am leaving tomorrow for Nairobi where I'll meet Sarah. Whilst in Nairobi we'll also be meeting the safari tent designers & manufacturers to finalise the way forward in that regard.

Tomorrow Andy will also get some guys together to go around the site and clear up some of the cut trees and stumps and move them to the central "collection" point at the southern part of the site. On Monday Andy then sets off for a well deserved 2 week holiday. SO back to blog next week when I get back to Rwanda.

(photos to be uploaded)