Lots of good progress today; at least for me. I had some idea that we would get the reinforcing steel tied and in place in the morning, then begin pouring the footing that will extend along the back wall in the afternoon. Also, while this was happening, we would excavate the footings for a different portion of the wall. There has been a pattern where work is done not in any way to anticipate what will happen next, but simply to accomplish something. They will spend a whole day on digging a place for the foundations, then a whole day on mixing concrete, then a whole few days laying brick. I would love to see them excavate a portion of the dirt, then mix concrete, so the next day the masons can have something to do other than charge a lot of money and sit in the shade. This way they could excavate the following day while the masons begin their wall.
The path of the wall lines up perfectly with a young mango tree, so i took it upon myself to find a location in the orphanage that could use a little shade, and transplant the tree. Either way the tree had to move, so if it dies, it dies, but at least we tried. I did find a nice little place for it. The Feng Shui is good. I got my hoe swinging in for the day.
I had bible study tonight, there is a boy there who is very excited that I am around. His prayer request was that God would give him a friend. He said that so many times some of the boys here his age want to be his friend, but in the end they all just end up wanting something from him because he is white. I don’t really know what I should feel about it. I don’t want to pity him, but I do feel bad for him, and can only imagine being a missionary kid where no one around you speaks your language, or understands the culture that you are used to.
The day goes by so fast. I fear that I get few things accomplished, but in reality, I set things that I want to do aside when there is something that I need to do, and it happens so many times throughout the day that when someone asks me what I did today, I have a hard time recalling. I remember the fun things, but forget the necessary things. I made many adjustments to my books, and paid for more material. I fetched tools that Henry needed, pumped water, cleaned garbage, talked to workers, directed workers, took pictures, and even joined in on the work. Seems like the moments that stick in my mind are not the moments that I am digging, or crunching numbers. They are the moments when I am by myself, and I happen to glance up and see a beautiful sunrise, or hear the children singing, or feel a cool breeze. I think of good things.
What we accomplished on the project:
The excavation is nearly complete. I say that with respect to the entire project, we are 1 day away from having excavation finished off. Our grade beam forms got a little more shallow than I was expecting. Henry reduced the height to about 8 inches, which is less than I was hoping for. We purchased reinforcing steel to tie up and place in between the stones that are acting as forms, this is what the masons spent the entire day doing; “Very technical work”. I marked out the path of the wall down by Home #9. It comes ridiculously close to the veranda. In fact, we will probably, at some point, extend the veranda to the wall. I am actually starting to get excited about the wall smashing the two houses that are on someone else's property. The wall gives them unique and private spaces that will be well shaded during most of the day. We had additional deliveries of steel and “Hard Core”, and tonight we have Abraham as a night guard to watch the steel so that it does not grow legs and walk off.
I am propped up in my bed flicking mosquitos and other interesting insects. now that the weather is changing, new bugs have recently started clinging to my mosquito net. I draw them in by my monitor light, and carbon dioxide, then give them a full sized upper-cut to the belly with my middle finger (flicking). Somehow they always find their way back...
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