The team began that day with purchasing the remaining zinc sheets and traveling to the site to check in on Sheku and his men. They had finished the paneling on the roof and would now be able to do the sides of the house. Sheku gave us a few more items he would need to assemble the door but otherwise the structure would be able to be finished without any more materials. We left with Swallu to find the remaining items and also bought more rice for additional spawn expansion as we believed that the trial the night before was overcooked and wet. After all purchases were made and the team took a break at the office to gather our thoughts and wait for Sheku’s prayer to finish, we went back to the site and delivered the items. We then waited until Sheku finished the structure. In the meantime, Will and David spoke with Jawara and his neighbors about common Creo phrases we should be familiar with and other cultural information. Jawara’s neighbor was also the first builder we spoke with, and he voiced his disappointment about not being selected for the construction job. We did our best to have him understand the price was too much for us, and eventually he said it was no problem. If we do choose to expand in the future and build concrete houses for better cooling, it would be nice to employ his help. Jawara told us that he was still not able to contact the banana leaf collector, but that he would try again later in the day. Soon enough Sheku and his men were finished and we did a final inspection. Some outstanding work to be done is bug proofing the structure, creating a proper drainage path, adding more supports to the beams, and determining temperature and humidity inside the house with our Govees. Khanjan showed up and seemed pleased with the structure and we took some pictures before paying Sheku and parting ways. Later that evening, Will prepared more rice spawn with a new procedure to avoid overcooking while still ensuring decontamination. The sawdust spawn was not looking any better, indicating that the “yemina” tree was most likely antifungal. It was too early to determine the status of the first rice spawn, but it has more of a chance to succeed than the sawdust. The following day will be focused on moving into the new GRO house and conducting more spawn expansion.

House construction is complete.