One of the proposed reasons for the failure of the concrete ring and the next one which also broke, was the quality of the too soft sand, obtained locally by donkey cart. This was not exactly the most economic form of delivery, but bought as such to put money directly into the local village community. Obtaining a coarser sand for making making new rings using reinforcing iron rods, plus increasing the cement to sand and stone ratio, was the combined strategy decided upon.
On querying the increased size of the garden shed, it transpired that with typical African
"free thinking", Abli ... having initially requested more roofing sheets than necessary, wanted to be able to use them all, and ( probably with some collusion from Babucar ) had decided to make it larger, thus enabling it to have many more 'practical uses' in the future. So my garden shed seems destined to become a gardener's house, although the small matter of now needing half as many building blocks again as had been originally ordered, hadn't seemed important enough to mention.
Another trip to the builders' supply merchant was necessary !!

Ousman and young boy, plus donkey and young donkey ....

.... delivering the local "too soft" sand.

Sadly I had to leave them all to it and return to a freezing and fog bound UK for Christmas.
My neighbour's dogs sheltering in the shade .......

...... good friend Kabba ( seen here walking out past tall grasses via one of the perimeter paths )
promising to supervise his team of workers in my absence.

Babucar will be cutting the tall grass to supply the local fence-panel weavers and clearing the undergrowth from the rest of the land .. which looks like the picture above .. in advance of planting maize, cassava and whatever else he wants to grow for his own benefit.
The new orchard will be nurtured with water from the well, so that a plentiful supply of tropical fruit will hopefully be ready to pick, when the time comes to build myself a house and live there.

All the extra materials were delivered to my team of happy workers, shortly before I had to return to the UK .. sufficient, I hoped, for both the well and the 'garden shed' to be completed before my next visit early in 2007.  I have great faith in their abilities, but I wonder what will await me ? :-))

As of 20th December 2006 .. they had been making more blocks and are waiting for them to dry out before using them .. the walls of the 'garden shed' ( Chez Babucar ) were up to shoulder height using up the last of the original blocks .. a slight matter of ventilation air holes had been largely overlooked, but no doubt they can be retrospectively created !

All was evidently progressing "smoothly" in the African Style.

By 28th December .. all was finished and the team had the rest of their money in time for Tobaski.

My Thanks and Very Best Wishes for their Tobaski Celebrations were warmly given to Babucar, Abli Zimba, Makka Well, Forfar fa fa fa, Lamin Taxi, Kabba, Ousman - their families and friends.

As the New Year dawned, I was waiting for a friend to send me some up to date pictures, which would have been posted sooner, had he sent them. Unfortunately, even though made by another Toubab, it was a "white African promise" and - as often happens - swiftly forgotten. So I had to wait until my return in February to see the outcome of their labours and take some more pictures.