Today is our fourth build day and we have already accomplished so much. The weather has started to warm up considerably during the day with the shining sun and we even had a reprieve from the wind! The Batswana team and the GV team members are warming up to each other even more and we are learning a lot about each other.
Our work sites are also progressing at a great pace. After mixing, remixing, and mixing some more, the cement floor was set at one site and has dried. It is now ready to have its walls built up! On the second site we were able to "plaster" (or more correctly "concrete" since we are using concrete) all the interior walls- it is now safe to say that we have some plastering pros amongst the group. This house will be finished in no time! A group also spent all day yesterday mixing and making bricks one at a time. Mix the cement, fill the mould, pack it down, lift up the HEAVY mould, flip it over and voila, you have a brick. Now repeat all day! Last, but certainly not least, we had our food prep team getting our food and making sure we had enough nourishment for the day!
We have all been working hard but we've all remembered to take in our surroundings. We were accompanied at the sites by some local visitors. Many little children have popped by to see what we are up to, and Jane and Tessa have been able to make bracelets for all of them. Our neighbour's little children come by and keep us smiling and we always have a moment for a picture, even though it is sure that our official photographer Jill has recorded all the major events!
We continue to work at the sites today. It will be exciting to see the walls being constructed on one of the sites and finally be able to see the finished product on the other almost complete house.
Some things that we have come to realise:
- LOTS of sand does not need to be accompanied by a body of water- we seem to always have little sandboxes in our shoes!
- There can never be enough peanut butter at lunch
- The children really do seem to be raised by the whole village- sometimes we can't even find their parents!!
Until next post,
The GV team and Amanda
2 comments:
Wow! What an adventure and this time shared with Tessa! (Ben likes the work gloves, Tess :) ) Jen, the picture of you and the little one is so sweet - didn't you want to scoop him up and put him in your pocket?! Love to you all and we're staying tuned.
:) Jennifer, Tara, Jacob and Ben
Hi Jennifer, David, Tessa and all the other volunteers,
We are so glad everything is going well for you in Botswana. So great to see pictures. We are all thinking of you. Take care of each other.
much love
Kim and Brian
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