Today, HATS was a beehive of activity thanks to a few things. The delivery of some seriously rough-hewn planks that have been anticipated for two weeks. We’re curious about the origins of the hard-as-nails wood, but no one seems to be able to tell us what it is. So, work continued on the new water tank building (woo hoo!). This was deemed more important than the school urinal so Luckner pulled them off that project to work on this one. BUT…if you compare yesterday’s picture to today’s you’ll notice they managed to do quite a bit of work in a mere three hours.
Wood Delivery
Progress on Urinals for School
Work Continues on Water Tower
“Ask Luckner and ye shall receive” said Brian. So we asked and he came through with the rest of the nails for us to continue fastening the corrugated sheets on the carport. With a wee bit of McGyver-ing on Brian’s part, every nail has a washer with it (actually a piece of foam; Karen might not be doing much gardening since bits of her kneeling pad are under each nailhead).
Et voila! A finished carport. And finished with a thumbs up from many of the locals each time they went through with a wheelbarrow of materials (“Bon –bagay” they’d say). Now our tents will stay nice and dry. Vladimy was a great help (once again) and his sweat equity is part of HATS, just as is that of Bob, Brian, Josh, Mike and Rich. Thank you fellas, you’ve made a tremendous difference.
Roofing Going On
Serious Decision Time by all Four ‘Blan’
And some other bits and bobs worth including. It was a little like Christmas morning this afternoon. We all traveled here with things for the kids and each was handed a pair of shorts, a dress, flip flops or a t-shirt…something. I think our joy was equal in seeing theirs.
Four Precious Kids
That spankin’ new washline? Up and ready for use (Aimee and Mike). We’ll see how long a cotton rope clothesline lasts with wet clothing tossed over it!
Four big ‘ol truckloads of sand was delivered to make cement for the water tower work. We learned today each truckload is (wait for it…) HAND BOMBED!! Men, with shovels and the side of a river, embankment, wherever! Easily, 25 truckloads have been delivered. Think about that for a minute.
Karen’s still nursing a sore hip/leg/thigh. Hopefully a painkiller shot (administered by Luckner no less!) will have her sleeping well tonight…under that new carport.
TV Repair Work
Josh
Today we finished the carport just in time for some rain. Tonight we will sleep dry outside! We played some games with the kids like football, lacrosse and dribbled a basketball around. Vladimy was playing golf with a can in the ground. He is a natural athlete and great at catching a football and at golf.
Rain Protection in Finished Carport
~Josh
Aimee
Today, Mike and I watched as men with tools lined up on the bridge outside the compound hoping to be hired for the day. They’d been waiting there for some time and started to head home. Here’s the kicker: Mike and I got there at 6:15AM!! Again, let that settle for a minute. Up, out, travel, wait, wait and wait some more, head home at 6:15am. One more thing, Karen, thanks for lettin’ me drive.
A bientôt
~Aimee
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