Chapter 5 - Page 43 - Building A Village

   A drilling truck was at the location where the water well would be drilled. Workers were raising a small derrick from the back of a truck. Other workers were putting up warning signs. Still others were staking out the routes for the paved roads. Near the center of the clearing, workers were taking measurements, driving in stakes, and running strings from one stake to another for the foundation of the three room hospital. Other workers were unloading shovels and picks from the back of a pickup truck. Foremen in different areas were going over blueprints, bosses were pointing out places where workers should drive stakes, and trucks hauling heavy equipment were pulling into the job site and parking in their designated areas to unload.

   People were everywhere. Everybody was busy. Everything was organized. Jim noticed that he wasn’t the only one watching all the activity-local residents stood along the tree line, observing all that was going on.

   Jim saw workers on the edge of the clearing unloading undergrowth from trailers and throwing the wood into large piles. Foremen set fire to the piles of rotted wood and undergrowth. Red, searing flames and smoke billowed into the sky. Six such fires burned wildly, all around the outer edge of the open area. Smoke filled the sky. Workers continued to bring undergrowth out of the woods and throw it onto the burning piles. A breeze began to blow, fanning the flames higher and higher to mingle with the dust blowing all across the job site.

   Jim was anxious to get all the work done, but his first priority was completing the hospital. He had made arrangements with eight doctors in outlying communities to