One more day

Our time here is quickly coming to an end. We have one more morning of work ahead of us. The group has accomplished some incredible feats these past few days. Before I get all soppy about my fellow worker bees let me go over what we did today.

The day started with the usual painting of various surfaces. Today they tackled the last of the trim around the house and various touch ups. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a place. The oil and water based paint, along with the paint thinner, has probably taken a few years off our lives with it's potency. Alas what's health compared to beauty after all, and I must say the house looks stunning.

The wall has been completed! It has been raised, holes filled, and security added on top. Don and Felix and probably every single person in our group has helped complete that formidable barrier. I think we all gave a sigh of relief when the last wood mold was removed.

The swing set next to the water tower was completed. As well as a nifty clothes line set up by Stefan and Tim. It wasn't long before the neighborhood kids came around and started playing on it. I have a feeling it will get a lot of love from the kids.

After making some rough plans, on a piece of card board, for a cabinet to hold the gas canisters; Mike, Sophie, Gerard, and I left for the lumber yard. We negotiated for the perfect cuts of wood to be shaved and delivered. During the shaving process we made tried to make a quick stop at a hardware store around the corner for some extra parts. Nothing is quick here nor straight forward. For instance, when we had selected the largest door hinge the store had, and asked for the screws to accompany it we were presented with some very small screws. After asking for bigger screws about four times with each presentation less and less satisfying we finally received something we were okay with.



We had everything needed to build some hefty cabinets. Mike, Don, Ezekial (Pastor Frouisou's son), and myself assembled the unit. Lots of cutting, measuring, some jig saw fixes, and many screws later we finally had a cabinet. Ezekiel immediately went to work painting the cabinets for us. He was great to have for the day.

There are doors and it's painted, I promise

The storage unit in the room next to the kitchen was also reassembled after a good layer of paint had been applied the previous day. It was mostly dry when we put it in, but it still looks perfect!

During the course of our construction, painting, furniture moving, and dirt tracking we've left just a little mess on the tiles floors. Luckily we have some very amazing people (Connie, Sheila, Claire, Sophie, Caroline, Mary, Abby) who diligently scrubbed away all of the imperfections we left. They are some truly special people, without them the house wouldn't look half as good.

Stefan, Jake, Mike and Max worked on some plumbing issues. Notably the washer has been affixed and is fully functioning, we even tested a few loads with the dirty rags. They came out beautifully white by the way. The toilet's all now flush and function properly, hallelujah.

Last but not least, we got beds today! They finally arrived at 17:00 and were swiftly assembled. They look magnificent in the bedrooms and really pull the rooms together. Tomorrow we will get some mattresses and sheets to really make the rooms look homey.

Our last morning here will be spent cleaning up the rest of the house and making it as spotless as possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, putting in long construction hours and building new relationships. The culture is infectiously vibrant and alive with spirit, I'll be sad to leave tomorrow night.

After many days of coaxing others into writing blog posts, tonight I couldn't quite manage it. The day has been very long, accomplishing all of our tasks. We want to thank everyone for their prayers, support, and encouragement. Since there is a photo of everyone else at the end it's only fair I have one too.