Hey everyone! It's your friendly neighborhood social worker! The team hit the ground running this morning, even us seniors who were just coming off our first work day. Right after breakfast the team had some extra time, so Sara and Andres helped plant some beautiful floral around the welcome out in front of our guest house.
Following that everyone loaded up and headed for the school. We arrived knowing today was going to be slightly different than the previous work days as the students and staff were attending the principal's mother in-law's funeral for the day. The work-site was very quiet with only a few stray dogs loitering around the pavilion and one small furry friend inside the kitchen itself!
Curled up in the corner of one of the support columns this little guy was none too happy that we were invading his preferred sleeping space. We were unable to leave Austin in his little cubby, so while everyone else gathered the tools and supplies needed for the day Maddie (me) donned a pair of work gloves and carefully extracted him.
Once our furry problem had been remedied the crew split into our two teams, one tackling the plumbing and the other setting up our sinks. Reese, Sara, Taylor, and I gathered around the current sinks on the other side of the pavilion to begin the first stages of fixing and gluing the new water line to the current water source. We shut off the water leading to the line we were tapping into and got to work! Reese and Taylor measured out what length of pipe we needed, while Sara cut out the sizes we needed. Once I got the glue can open (I had to use a machete since we didn't have a screw driver) Reese sanded down the ends of the pipe then applied the glue.
Back at the kitchen Margaret, Andres, and Kevan were working on solving our most recent problem with the two sinks. After assembling newly arrived sinks the day before the team realized that the smaller sink was slightly shorted than the bigger one. This presented an issue as the difference in heights wouldn't work with the shelf the contractors were going to be installing behind the sink.
The three of them began tackling this by trying various solutions. The first was to set the smaller sink on CMU bricks making up for most the distance immediately. With the bricks the difference quickly went from several inches to a few centimeters and after adjusting the legs on the larger sink a little they were able to bring them level with each other.
With each respective job completed the team came back together and took stock of what needed to be done next. It was decided that the plumbing crew (Reese, Sara, Taylor, and I) would head into town to pick up various components needed for connecting the faucet to the water line and choosing the paint we will use to finish the support columns for the counter tops.
While we were gone the rest of the team (Kevan, Andres, and Margaret) were visited by our second surprise guest of the day. Materializing out of the trees like Voldemort materialized out of that cauldron, a man with no shirt and four teeth appeared.
At first everyone was confused by his abrupt appearance as he began talking with one of our contractors, gesturing at our trenches. Turns out the land just next to the pavilion was his and the trenches we had dug were resting on his property. He was very understanding when the team explained, through our translator Pastor Dar, that we did not know the land was his and that the trenches were for the new kitchen at the school. He was delighted to hear that we were building something for the school and assured us that he was fine with the pipes being buried on his property. In his words "Anything for the kids".
Once the other half of the team returned from shopping, we wrapped up the workday by filling in the ends of the CMU bricks with mortar to make them smoother. This was a little tricky, as the mortar kept falling off our tools and the brick itself, but eventually we got the hang of it.
With the brick ends filled and the stain applied to the last piece of the serving window the team pilled into the vehicles sweaty and tired, but pleased with all the work accomplished today. On the way home Khem's truck (containing Sara, Taylor, and I) had to exchange out one can of paint we bought earlier, as it would not work on CMU brick. Across the street from the shop was a small flea market where various stall owners were trying to sell their produce, meats, or other goods.
As a treat to ourselves for a good days work we purchased several local deserts to share with the rest of the team back at Pastor Mike and Dar's house. They were very delicious!
Everyone's in bed by now and asleep. We have an early start with the anticipated visit from our SCG friend, Walesa. We cannot wait to meet her and be able to thank her for all the help she has provided us! But y'all should hear more about that tomorrow.