May 20: Settled into a daily routine.

Nameste,

This week in Bhinder the temperature has been around 40-43 degrees during the day! We generally get up for a 6 am breakfast so we can work during the morning and leave during the heat of the day for a siesta. People have really settled in here and on any given day someone is out and around town playing cricket, or watching cricket, exchanging foreign tongues or chasing children.

Despite the temperature being so hot, the work has been surprisingly productive and already quite a large amount of walls have been built. On the larger site where there are 6 of our team working they have almost completed a wall around the edge of a farm plot of about 100 or more meters. We still spend out days moving rocks and soil but I think everyone is enjoying the work. Always surrounded by children and various farm animals, the work sites are very social places and lasting relationships are being formed between many. People communicate with bright eyes, excited hand gestures and the occasional Hindi which everyone is picking up.

On Monday, there was a death of an elder at the village so we did not go to work. Instead we visited some of the successful projects of our host partner and learnt about the improvements they have made in the farmland and lives of the villages. We were also able to visit the completed water harvesting structure of the last DWC team, although there is no running water to see it at full capacity. Some of our team members are planning to return to the site after the monsoons in August to see the project in action. It was very encouraging to see the vast differences that projects similar to our own have made while also seeing the plans in place to tackle climate change in the area. When we returned to work we payed our respect the family which was a very important experience.

Lunch is ready, curry potatoes and lady fingers!

With love from the palace,
Ciara and Stuart