Lots of progress despite the nap

Sept 17 (Mon)

Today was a tough work day! We met downstairs for breakfast at 7am, but we didn’t actually leave for the jobsite until probably 8:30. Our jeep headed straight to the church at the bottom of the hill (meeting place) but the other 2 jeeps went and got some needed supplies. We hauled up 2 wheelbarrows, some extra shovels, water bottles, and whatever else we needed, along with all our backpacks.. It was at least 85 degrees at this point as well. We all got started at the orphan’s house once again. We got the first 3 courses of block finished up, and the fourth we used inverted U-blocks. We bent rebar to lay within this to act as a main beam around the building. By the time we finished this 4th course and layed the rebar it was about noon, so we all headed down to the church for some lunch. We ate rice, dal, curry chicken and collard greens. It was so good, much better than yesterday! We also all laid down and had a little rest at the hottest part of the day, somewhere between 90-95 deg.

Uncle inspecting the new house

When it was time to go back to work, the first thing we did was pour cement into this bond beam- the inverted channel with the rebar inside. When this was done half of the group went over to the disabled family site to start helping some of the locals (this was the first site that we were preparing blocks). They had laid out the first course of block by this point, so that was a good start by them. I ended up staying at the orphan site. We tied in the interior walls, set the 3 door frames, laid out the window openings, and got several more courses of block laid by the end of the work day, around 6pm. The other team have the block done up to the bond beam, so we’ll probably pour that first thing tomorrow.The other team have the block done up to the bond beam, so we’ll probably pour that first thing tomorrow. I also took some time this afternoon to play around with some of the local children, along with another guy named Cody. We blew bubbles, made funny faces, juggled, tried to teach them to make their tongue into a circle, whatever we could think of. You can’t help but smile when little kids are having a good time. Even with a language barrier, laughter and happiness is universal.

Not the way I'm used to setting doors!!

The time really is passing so quickly, and I’m losing track of the days. We only have a couple more days of work here, so it’s important for us to keep working as hard as we can. Even if we don’t finish everything that we set out to do, we will still knock out a huge portion of the work and get the locals well on their way to finishing the homes and getting a roof over the heads of the ones who need help the most.

I’m sore.  I’m tired. But in a good way.