Working hard

The team from CIY is here from June 21st through July 5th.  That....is a long time for a group to be here.  They have been extremely productive, doing two clothing distributions, as well as quite a bit of physical labor.  Let's take a look, shall we?

First they started out helping on the rock wall, finishing the wall with more rock, and then dirt fill.  We expect with coming rains that dirt to settle, and then pour concrete a few feet from the containers for greater protection, and for a sidewalk of sorts.  It may look all normal in this picture...but to get to that point involved a lot of work. 

While doing that work, another part of the group was tackling more clothing sorting.  We don't get to do this often enough, and with them helping with three rural distributions during their time here, we wanted to make sure the clothing they would be taking only included that which people here can actually use. 









 Meanwhile, another part of the group was helping with the TSP, while Teto was putting the finishing touches on the stage...getting all the welding and then painting done.

Once the painting was done, the group screwed in the plywood on the top and for the stairs.  From there, in the future via a group or funding, we will put in a wood laminate finishing floor which should look great.  Yet to be done are the two dressing/storage rooms on either side of the stage (one will be elevated on the stage itself, the other they want at regular floor level...thus where Teto is standing the stage ends...clear as mud, right?) 

And another part of the team during those construction days was measuring for the sidewalk in front of the Church, filling in the area with rocks to get the different levels needed...and using exact measuring tools to determine how far out the rocks needed to go. 










And yet another part of the group was helping put up the porch.  We let Miguel and Javier tackle the roofing, but getting everything up and supplies to them was a big help that made quick work of it. 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the heat wave we have been having.  Nothing as serious as in the US right now, but for us...these are the temperatures and wind patterns we more expect during Holy Week.  Terrible?  No, but when doing this much outdoor work...it certainly does make things more interesting. 








We made an overnight trip to Sampedrana on Wednesday and Thursday...doing some food distribution before the rain pushed us back, then showing the movie Courageous that night, and then this morning....

We went up on the road to the Hill Climber coffee farm and took one of the drainage tiles and "installed" it in the road.  Digging out a hole for the tile, including all the mud, rocks, and chocolate milk like water was rather difficult, not to mention that once we had the tile in....we had to then refill the hole and raise the level of the road a bit to make future passings more...passable. 

Thankfully...the creek we were trying to handle was located just under a huge maple tree which at least gave us plenty of shade for the morning's work.




Cecilia came with us on the trip.  She slept well overnight... talking in her sleep rather loudly warning everyone "watch your feet!" scared others, but she was sound asleep.  Still, the trip wore on her...as seen here as she clung to me asleep on the way down the mountain. 

Sleeping while we were driving down the mountain is impressive, even with the road being in very good condition.

I was pretty happy that I could hold onto her while she slept, drive well, shift when needed....and then eventually take this picture all at the same time.