Onto the Boat
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Another day we distributed to a larger town right on the road, but of

course some of the families whose houses were destroyed were across

the river…so onto the little rope-toe boat those wheelbarrows went.

It was an interesting process to watch and help with — and the ladies

wheeling the barrows were very gracious and appreciative of our

efforts.

As to roads, I need to note for the record that even the

administrative center for this particular cluster of towns and

villages is a good 1+ hours’ drive away from the nearest paved road.

When I say “road” I mean muddy and/or incredibly bumpy and dusty dirt

track. Not comfortable driving at all, but functional for bringing in

pretty large trucks for local deliveries and so on. Can’t imagine an

American truck driver would consent to drive over some of these roads

(I’m thinking of some where the floods had washed out some of the

bank, and I found myself silently praying the road would hold as we

passed over it…).

The next set of shots show both more of the barrows being loaded on

the boat, as well as some shots of the big distribution. Man oh man,

was I sweaty after all that! (We started that morning by unloading the

barrows, which were then assembled — shots of that are further

along.)

Unloading Wheelbarrows
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Unloading the wheelbarrows — in temperatures that partially melted

the heavy industrial paint on them — left permanent reminders on

three different t-shirts and one pair of pants. It also left me sore,

but satisfied from hard work. The barrows were distributed in pieces

— two separate wheels, the axle to connect them, and the barrow were

all separate. So once we unloaded them, we had a group of people who

assembled them all.

After this you’ll see one of the guys who helped unload rolling a set

of wheels away after he attached them to each other, and one of him

with me and Manuel, my housemate, our French logistician on the

mission.

Did I mention that these are among the strangest wheelbarrows I’ve

ever seen? 🙂

Scenes from the School
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

And finally, some slightly arty shots I managed to take at the school

which functioned as the storage, loading and unloading point for all

of our distributions. Naturally, there were some times when we were

waiting for trucks to arrive, for loading or unloading, or just

moments when we’d take a break from the heat and sun. These were shot

during those moments when I was resting a bit and just looking around.

The brown stuff on the ground is unhulled rice set out to dry — in

one shot you see it in the foreground, with a shipment being prepared

in the background. In another shot you see a closeup with the small

broom for stirring it around so that it all dries evenly. Traveling

around the countryside, I saw a LOT of rice being harvested, and often

saw small amounts laid out to dry like this, before being hulled and

finally prepared.