Week of construction

This week I have assumed the title as “head of construction”. Not really what I expected, but an interesting challenge. The workcamp left Masanga with a lot of work still to be done, which left Hinduja and I in charge of a total of 9 workers (4 carpenters, 3 messeners and 2 unskilled workers) and the purchase of further building materials. This confronted us with a number of issues.
First of all the issue of discipline. What do you do, when some of your workers arrive late, and others get sick or complain about dental problems. My answer was to threaten everyone with the necessary fact that coming in late would automatically result in a one hour deduction from the salary. It was somewhat satisfying to see the same worker, who the day before came slowly walking towards the site fifteen minutes late, and a sprint to make it at the contractual decided time.
Secondly there is the problem of deciding whether to pay the workers in advance, when they have a good reason. I didn’t. Our workers are paid every fourteenths day. After one weeks of work (on our first day of supervision) two of the workers thus asked me to be paid for that week, because they needed money to pay for their children’s school fees (schools are formally free to attend, but there are substantial costs connected with yearly school fees and expenditures for uniforms, materials etc.). But something seemed wrong. I noticed that the two guys in an unusual way avoided looking me in the eyes after they had asked, as if they had done something wrong. I therefore consulted Abibu, which works as Assistant Business Manager at Masanga, but has been hugely involved in the work at the Education Centre. He advised me not to pay, as their motive probably was to leave the work early, as I was possible, that they saw better a better income-opportunity at the local gold mine (which I have actually visited). This let me to turn the enquiry down with a lame excuse, which evolved around the time needed to wire money from Denmark. It was bullshit and they probably knew it. Nonetheless they didn’t argue and left the site crestfallen like two pupils caught in the act of doing something not allowed. Their lack of objection let me to the conclusion, that it was the right way to handle the situation.
Thirdly deciding who should continue working, and who should be “sacked”. Yesterday it was the day of payment. But also a day of deciding, how many workers we needed for the rest of the work. A locally employed carpenter – Johnny – has functioned as work-coordinator and supervisor at the site (when he has had the time to oversee the work, while also working on two other projects) and we had a close dialogue with him regarding the issue. We followed his advice of letting five people stay onboard (2 carpenters, 1 messener and 2 unskilled workers). Luckily we had the same impression of who was working hardest, which did not include the two before mentioned, who had also both had half a day of because of sickness and dental problems – which was hard to deny them. And suddenly I was confronted with a situation, where we called the workers in one at a time, paid them and told them whether we needed them next week, or they needed to find a new place to work. But they know that is the term of employment on a project like this, and I think they reacted very nicely to my message. But that is definitely the first time I’ve ever tried to “fire” somebody.
Finally there has been the problem of purchasing enough and the right materials. That isn’t necessarily a simple task in Sierra Leone, as you can never count on the shopkeepers promises about when their truck will arrive from Freetown with the materials you need. That has led me to spend way too much time in a Lebanese shop in Makeni. But that gives you the chance of meeting a bunch of interesting people – besides the two brothers running the shop, of which one has already invited me to spend the night, I have met the police officer of Makeni (who reported on very little crime and mostly small-time hustlers), as well as the man who constructed all the wells in Masanga and a former America-based Diaspora member, who returned to set up a logistic firm.

This is definitely different from the Danish university-life.