When doing construction in a remote jungle village, there are many unique challenges that can develop. One of the difficulties that presented itself in building this clinic in Yorkin was the issue of welding the metal frames and braces for the roof. Our foreman had a welding system, but unfortunately the generator that we had brought to the village last year wasn't big enough to handle the charge. The foreman decided to make a temporary trade of equipment with a friend who had a smaller welding system, but that didn't work either. In the end, the best solution turned out to be transporting the materials in boat, part of the way back down the river to another village - Shuabb - where they have electricity. In Shuabb, our foreman used the welding equipment to weld the metal pieces together, then they managed to take these in the boat back up the river and back to the site in Yorkin. They weren't able to weld everything that they had intended to because there was a concern by some in this village about the amount of electricity they were using, so our creative foreman rigged up a system of screws, brackets, and braces to get everything in its place. All in all, it turned out to be a delay of about a week or so, but they got the job done and now the roof is in place. As they like to say down here, sometimes you have to pull a "MacGyver" (or two!) to make it all work!
the roof gives the clinic a whole new look!
some of the metal framing that was welded
the "MacGyver" system
the front of the clinic
