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Over the first two weeks of January this year a small army of volunteers turned up to help build on the next phase of the Enlightenment Stupa.

Many areas that had been left incomplete in previous building work were finished. The final mud bricks were laid into the east wall, which meant that the 10,000 bricks made over previous years were finally laid. All the walls were now finished on the room that will be underneath the Stupa. The walls were rendered with their first coat, inside and out, and the prayer wheel boxes (for the 35 prayer wheels) were made and set into the walls.

At the same time a team of tradespeople and labourers were forming up on the top of the walls with plywood, and also fixing tons of steel in place.

This was done in order to pour a suspended concrete slab including the intricate Tibetan style temple façade, which incorporates the walkway/roof over the room and also forms the circumambulation route around the base of the Stupa.

This was our goal for the two weeks, and was achieved right on schedule, mainly due to many twelve-hour days in a row. There was a great collective sigh of relief to see nearly fifty tons of concrete find its final resting place - four metres above the ground.

The weather was so kind to us, absolutely perfect for the work. Once again, a fantastic turnout by so many kind people donating their time and energy to this unique and wonderful project. This work session was a great leap forward for the Stupa - we have now completed most of the heavy work required in its construction.

We all had such an excellent time (despite the hard work) that we look forward to the third phase. Please keep in touch via the email listserve if you'd like to come over for the next work session. We send out regular news snippets and it is an easy way to keep up to date. We have again booked an information stall at WOMAD in Adelaide this year, right next to Buddha's Bowl. Please come and say hullo.