Borneo – Day 5

Day 5 – Project lift off

Blogger – Harvey W

All of us woke at 6am to get ready for breakfast at 7am. Breakfast included noodles and eggs. I decided to stick with the noodles as they were very nice. At 8am we left for the project in the small community of Lotong. The area we are working on is a toilet/ shower block behind a sports stand and football pitch. At the moment they have a tin shack that is falling apart without modern facilities.

We had several tasks to complete. Dig out a six foot wide by six foot deep pit, collect sand and stones for the cement we will need. Create a new path down the side of the new block.

We had our first break at 10:30 when the community kindly provided drinks and snacks, including some beef, Sweet potatoes. We went back to work with renewed energy until lunch – we had just finished digging the pit by now and digging out holes for the poles of the toilet, some of the local community had put up the wood structure of the block once we got the poles in.

Lunch consisted of chicken, beans some wild boar and other vegetables. The community are very food efficient – I gather previous JRCS expeditions have not been as well fed!

After lunch some of us went to teach English to local children whilst others stayed with the toilet work.

We mixed cement for the poles, etching JRCS into it before it dried and cut out more earth and levelled around the toilet area ready for cementing tomorrow.we finally finished for the day and were treated to yet more drinks and sweet treats, including a type of shortbread and filtered bananas. Some of the local children also joined us for some more English and  unexpected dancing.

I got to ride home in the best van ever! We then had 5 mins each for a shower before dinner! After dinner, yes more food, we had a debrief, relaxed and went to bed ready for a very hard physical day tomorrow.