4th day in video

Day 7 on site

Day 7 saw the near completion of the flooring. The slate tiles were laid down while Karna, the master mason, carefully cut the pieces down to form a perfect puzzle piece grid. With extra materials, a fire pit was conceived with stone and slate. 

Our daily transport from our hotels in nearby Bhedatar to the site in Namje:

School children from a local village dropped by for the afternoon and formed an assembly line to bring more rock up while singing their favorite tunes.

 The fire pit:

Day 6 on site

The walls were set in place and finally the glass to cover the grave placed in the middle of the memorial arrived. It took ten guys to carry it up the mountain to the site. Meanwhile, the students were, ahem, lucky enough to help carry the slate up to the site. One by one. By one. A challenge presented itself when the team had to figure out how to drain water from the glass to the edges of the slate tile. Below, the locals unboard the extremely heavy piece of glass.

 The slate tiles that the students carried up.

 Travis laying out the tile to see check out the configuration.

 The stone surrounding the glass will be jagged and will be quite the feat if walked upon to gaze into the reflection of the glass/ancestors.

Day 4 on site

Day 4 brought the end of the outer walls and the start of the inner. The bamboo scaffolding construced was just as beautiful as the structure itself. first they created a space through the stone then laid perpendicular bamboo pieces alongside the wall with wood planks on top. 6" niches were created in each wall to hold a butter candle or buddha. By this time, the students had figured out the rhythm of laying the stone masonry.

Greeting from the village

Nearly in tears.

Day 3 on site

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Day two on site

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Below, is what we arrived to on the second day of construction. The first day is always a big learning curve as the students are taught how to build and slowly get the hang of it. We also experienced major internet difficulties as, silly us, thought that we could use the internet connection usb's we previously bought in Kathmandu on the top of a mountain in faraway Namje. With the help of Rajeev Goyal, the former Peace Corps worker in the village and major lightening force behind the water pump projects and permaculture farm, the internet has now been brought to the village as of two hours ago and surely will change it forever. The second day brought an upward climb to the 7 feet walls we were trying to finish by the end of the day, but it took a bit longer since they were also fitting in a 6" niche to each wall for future buddhas or candles.

Day one of site

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The first work day now seems ages ago since we have now put up the walls that started as the little stubs you see below. The master mason, pictured below, oversees the meticulous placement of the stones with a system that confirms that each stone is properly placed. There are 8 exterior walls surrounding this base and eight smaller interior walls surrounding the grave, or portal, in the center made of glass with the intent that you can look in to see a dark pit to remember the ancestors who have been buried here yet also reflect into the sky to look forward to the future. The Namje villagers quickly taught the students how to lay the stones, mix and pour the concrete into the stones so that the walls were half way built by the end of the day.

Local women deliver the stones via basket.

The surrounding villages.

The grave.

Site models

The site is coming along quite well and we are slightly ahead of schedule.We're glad for the extra time to prepare us for the possible rains that seem to come and go as they please. Here are a few pictures of the computer-generated model of the memorial to the ancestors, which pretty soon will come to life. 

pics from the day