Semi-live NOT a deer hunt

[np307]

Well, this weekend was archery opener at home in NC. Instead of hunting though, I'm sitting at the gate in Dulles waiting for a flight to Turkey. After a 10 hour layover in Turkey, our crew of 4 guys will fly into Madagascar where about a month of work is going to get stuffed into 8 days. Some friends are missionaries there and are putting up a church building. One team from our church went in January and did the site prep and started pouring the foundation. Since then, the columns have been poured and the blockwork has been done. We are heading over to weld up the roof trusses and then install them, then weld purlins on. They need to get the roof up before rainy season starts so we are going to be pushing to leave the site ready for them to install roofing. I figured that even though it isn't a hunting trip, yall might still want to come along for the ride. A couple pics of what awaits.

 

[np307]

We landed in the capital about an hour and a half ago. We are settled in our room for the night and have a 0600 flight to the north end of the island where we will finally start working. Not sure how effective I'll be at updating since I'm relying on both the cell service here and a VPN to be able to post. I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

 

[kansasdad]

I have the two volume set of "Ditch Medicine" and "Ditch Dentistry" in my library, I wonder if there is a "Ditch Welding" book floating around out there? I imagine that there will be opportunities to learn how the local craftsmen do their welding, and you will be teaching them how you are used to doing artistic and structurally sound construction. And perhaps just when it seems like there isn't a workable solution to some building problem, there might be a "still small voice" that will whisper just the right answer.

I applaud your team for the efforts on behalf of the people of Madagascar. Your friends there will be blessed by your efforts, and even more so by your company.

 

[ignorethefringes]

This is very cool and I’m looking forward to more pictures

 

[np307]

We have arrived at the town we are working in. We had breakfast with our friends this morning and then they took us to the building site to introduce us to the crew that will be helping us and to go over the plans for the trip. It's definitely a vastly different place than the US. Looking forward to getting to work tomorrow.

A picture from our flight in from the capital to the north part of the island:

The room I'm sharing with one of the other guys:



The movable center scaffold I'll be doing some of the welding while standing on:


All the purlin material ready for when we get trusses put up:

 

[np307]

First day of real work is going well. We have 7 total trusses to do and are just about finished with the first one. We've mostly got our machines figured out and running well. The other crew has the columns leveled and are close to installing top plates for us to join the trusses to. We are about an hour from lunch, everyone takes a 2 hour lunch break here because of the heat. We are hoping to have a second truss mostly done by the end of the day. We also had a guest in the building when we got here.

 

[np307]

More of the same today. Material stack is getting shorter. Tomorrow we will get a truck to take the trusses we have done from where we are welding to where the building is going up. Then the real fun begins when we have to weld stuff in position. Hedgehog is still hanging out too.

 

[np307]

It's only 0830 here and we are having a full on Africa experience today. Power is out so we are trying to figure out getting a 400v three phase connection on the generator converted to 230 so we have a second generator connection for both welders. Leaf spring is broken on the land cruiser so we're trying to deal with that. And some material disappeared in transit (or was miscounted originally) so we have to find more, but it's Saturday so nobody is open. Yee haw.

 

[kansasdad]

Hurry up and wait!

Africa time baby

 

[np307]

Hurry up and wait!

Africa time baby

For sure. We still got one and a half trusses welded up though. 2 full trusses remain and then we start installing them. Riding in the little three wheeled taxi to come back for lunch was pretty neat.

 

[np307]

Forgot to mention that yesterday we also got to go help out at the English class they do every Friday night. Each of us shared a little about our life and then helped the students with some of their classwork. It was a neat experience.

Land cruiser spring is on the way from the capital, probably a couple days away. It'll be on light duty until then. The outside handle for the driver door also quit working but we were able to fix that at the house. A couple pictures from today:

Tomorrow is Sunday so we won't work. We'll go to the church and I get the joy of preaching in the main service. I've preached through a translator before but never in a phrase-for-phrase style so we will see how different that experience is. It'll be good to have some time to rest in the afternoon too, we have a ton of work that needs to get done next week.

 

[np307]

A very nice Sunday here in Madagascar. I love preaching more than just about anything else, and to get the opportunity to do it over here was great. It was definitely a big adjustment to do it with phrase-for-phrase translation, but I think it went well.

After church we had lunch and then went for a nice walk in the countryside. It's truly a beautiful country.

 

[np307]

Well I have officially transfered jobsites. We finished getting all the truss halves tacked together and the motorcycle truck came to pick up the generator and take it to the other job. All the Malagasy were dying laughing at me and the missionary riding in the back with all the tools. It was so nice to see the material stack empty.

At the actual building site, the other guys laid out a jig to get the halves welded together so we can have a consistent ridge height. I was able to get 3 trusses welded together. Tomorrow we start the insane process of actually putting one of these beasts up onto the wall. In the whipping wind. On some really sketchy scaffolding.

 

[np307]

What an intense and wildly successful day. We got 4 trusses installed today and a few purlins to tie it all together. We have three trusses remaining. It was a bit chaotic at times but overall it went well. Scooting along on the trusses to weld the higher up purlins is pretty intense.

 

[np307]

Cell network is down so I haven't had a chance to post, but today was our last work day. We finished the goal of getting all the trusses up, all the cross braces installed, and all but 1 course of purlins installed. It was sketchy at times and a lot of work, but the result is very good. Tomorrow we will take some time to go up to the mountains and hike a little, and then we start flying back Saturday morning. This has been a great trip. I'm definitely ready to get home too though.

 

[np307]

Just flew into the capital. We have a few hours before we have to check in for our flight to Turkey so we are going to go visit the market and get some lunch. It's been a good trip, I am looking forward to being home though.

 

[hank4elk]

Cool.
My dad was there a few times at the end of the war, WWII. Said he liked his stays in port and exploring a strange land with strange plants,

 

[np307]

Cool.
My dad was there a few times at the end of the war, WWII. Said he liked his stays in port and exploring a strange land with strange plants,

When we were up in the rainforest it definitely felt like a different place than I had been before. We were a little insulated in what we saw because we were working so much that we didn't really see more than a snapshot of the country and the culture. A nice place for sure. I can imagine back that far it was very interesting to see.

 

[np307]

Just landed back in DC. 5 hour drive home and then a nice hot shower and some much needed sleep. Thanks for following along everybody.

 

[kansasdad]

@np307 May the sweat and labor produce fruit for years to come, and you/your family and those who helped you go be blessed as the seed produces a great harvest.

PS: did you take a worming pill? When I travel to places like you’ve been to I take a mebendazole tablet on the plane ride home. An ounce of prevention and all that.

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