The well-diggers / house builders were kindly lent to me by Alaghi Kabba ..  bead dealer, farmer, one of my long-time African friends and their full time employer on his farm. He, of the purple African robes plus umbrella in the pictures, occasionally turned up to sit by the well, join in the merriment and constantly encourage me to lend a hand at the well digging. "After you" was my standard reply. Not only does it take a lot of strength to climb up and down a hole in the ground, getting to be over 15 metres ( 49 feet )  deep,  it takes a considerable amount of courage too !!

 The team, consisting of Abli 'Zimba' nicknamed as such for the lion-like grunts emanating from deep underground as he attacked the earth and rocks. Forfar, who became "Forfar fa fa fa" with the echoing-sound as we called down to him at the bottom of the well .. where he was usually singing away to himself in a cloud of cigarette smoke .. and Makka .. who became "Makka Well" purely because I couldn't think of anything more suitable .. are a real fun bunch of hardworking, incredibly strong and skilled guys. Just to get to work, the cycle journeys from their home village, over soft sandy tracks, takes them one and a half hours .. in 30 - 40 degree temperatures !

Babucar, a loyal friend of many years, is my gardener / estate manager / official translator and general gopher .. with the opportunity to farm most of the land for himself for the next few years, whilst tending the orchard plants and generally looking after the area. His journeys from home to Dawda Kunda involving 2 local mini buses followed by a 20 minute walk from the nearest drop-off point, were sometimes taking him 2 hours to complete .. mini buses don't leave until they are full ! So an early Tobaski present was a new bicycle. With practise he has cut his journey time down to a little under an hour, over a mixture of metalled roads and sandy tracks .. so far, apart from a puncture and a near miss from an inattentive taxi driver, he remains unscathed and very fit !!

Occasionally some of the local villagers will wander over to check on the progress, one lady and her family has adopted the team and sends her daughter over every afternoon with a bowl of "chop" .. rice and fish .. for them. In return for her typical African generosity, she has been assured of a free supply of firewood from the trees and bushes which will need to be cleared.

A happy team, with much good natured teasing and laughter mixed in with the strenuous work.
I nearly fell for it one day, when they thought they would get their own back for my nicknaming teasing. "David, come come .. we have found water", was the cry one day at the 10 metre mark. Sure enough, there was water at the bottom of the well. Somewhat surprisingly as all the local wells were at least 15 metres deep ! Catching sight of the buckets they had used to pour some of my neighbour's generously supplied water into the well to soften up a particularly hard piece of ground, I exclaimed "Wow that's great, now it will only cost me two thirds of the price !!"
The laughter broke out and continued most of the time we were all together.