Das Kapital

We have noted that here in Quelimane, labor is extremely inexpensive. I have crew of workmen, laborers, carpenters and stonemasons who are working on our chapel expansion project. The six of them will be here about a month--working hard,( if not always efficiently). They will be paid about $500 dollars for that month--for all of them.   Really, labor is just about free here which creates some interesting economic conditions--incentives and disincentives.

The picture above was taken in front of our house as workers unloaded a truckload of sand by hand.  They first loaded it by hand.  A dump truck would cost perhaps ten thousand dollars more than this cargo truck.  But with labor as cheap as it is, what would be the incentive to automate the unloading process rather than using men with shovels?  Likewise, there is no front-end loader at the yard to put the sand in the truck--there are men with shovels who take a much longer time, but they require no large capital investment.  We also bought crushed gravel a couple of days ago for the well project.  I am familiar with gravel crushing operations in the states, which are very capital intensive and use little labor.  Not so here, laborers use sledgehammers or a very arcane heating/cooling process to fracture rocks into smaller pieces rather than using expensive rock crushing equipment.  I am not criticizing the approach--it makes perfect sense where labor is so inexpensive.  And it is so inexpensive here because there is so little industry demanding a labor force.



This picture was taken on Idugo Island of the very first well from our clean water project.  It went very well with the labor provided by those who will use it and producing cleaner water than anyone on the island has ever seen.  We still have a concrete apron to construct around the well and a concrete cap with a more permanent frame and pulley system to lower a bucket.  A hand pump was briefly contemplated but ultimately rejected as a piece of technology that the people there do not really need--nor do they have the capacity to maintain a simple pump to keep it operational.  We are proud to have had a small part to play in this worthy project. Ten wells are to be created and four are currently in various stages of completion.
It is Idugo where the rainy season has historically brought deaths from cholera from well contamination.

Here is a view looking down.  This particular well is only about 5 or six meters deep.  The concrete ring walls were poured in place, one meter at a time with workman digging down under the ring and having it thus slip further and further into the earth--then adding another one-meter ring on top of the previous one.  The process worked well.

Debbie spearheaded, organized, taught, and cajoled the children of Quelimane into putting on the first ever primary children's program in our sacrament service on Sunday.  It turned out wonderfully.  The kids are pictured in the new addition to the chapel, where we were able to have them sit up front and separate.  (floor was still dirt and walls were unpainted, but it is approaching completion).