Good Bye Rwanda.....Honey, I am comming Home

Neale with the kids that watched us work today. She gave them candy, but scolded the boys for being grabby.

Me with the kids that sat near the construction site ALL day today and watched us work.

Today was my last work day here in Rwanda. There is a small group that is staying one more day, then returning to America. There is another crew scheduled to return in September to finish the project. I am sure they were hoping we would have completed more, but given the late start, and the effort to make sure everything was set up right, I think we did a fine job.

See, Dan does do a lot of work. Unfortunately, this was MY view.

Only one casualty today. Someone dropped a metal brace from about 15 feet, and it hit one of the Rwandans on the arm. He was cut pretty bad, and had to go get stitches. It was the guy Neale was working with, so she felt very bad for him.

Tonight, about 5 of us are going over to Brad's house to eat and fix a loft that has a pretty unstable floor. After that, we return to the hotel to shower, finish packing and then head to the airport around 1:15. The flight to Nairobi is about 1 1/2 hours, then a short layover and on to London. With all of the time changes, we get into London about 5:00 in the afternoon (Sunday) and leave around 12 noon on Monday. The flight from Nairobi to London is about 8 hours, as is the flight from London to Chicago.

I was working through my clothes last night (as I gave most of what I brought away to the workers today - including my tennis shoes) and discovered I should have packed more socks. I tried to get a pair washed at the hotel, but we will see if they can get them done in time. Otherwise, I am comming home with my work boots on and no socks!

It has been a good trip, but I am very tired, and am really looking forward to seeing my family.

Again, I will do at least one wrap up post upon my return.

See you all on the other side!

Our Fearless Leader! and some candids

No words necessary.

The "whole cow" and a race to the FINISH

Yesterday, we worked very hard, but it took a lot of time in order to make sure everything was straignt and square, so we didn't quite make as much progress as we wanted to.

We ended earlier that normal, because our hosts had planned the traditional "Whole Cow" celebration for us to show us their gratitude. It was a lot of fun, and we saw lots of traditional Rwandan dancing and singing, good food (goat I think........?) and then back to the hotel around 10:00.

The folks that chose to stay at the dormitory have had a rough go of it, as Kibagabaga (the hill the school sits on), ran out of water about 3 days ago. We had planned to check out of our hotels this morning and move into the dorms, but between a long hard day today, and the dormitory folks having gone without showers for several days, prompted us to stay the last night, even though we are going to check out about 1:15 in the morning.

We are moving a little faster this morning, and had hoped to finish all of the walls, but as you can see from the pictures, I think we are going to fall short.

A number of the builders and VBS folks took this morning to go see the wildlife at Rwanda's national park. Neale and Chris had both planned to go, but had alarm malfunctions (they had to be at the car by 5:00 am), and didn't make it. Their help on the building site is much welcomed.

This will probably be my last entry, as we plan to work until dark, and then need to hustle back to the hotel to pack and shower.

Tomorrow night will be spent in London, then home by Monday night.

As much as I enjoy doing this, it has been a long, hot trip, and I am ready to hold my family.

It's a New Day!

It is now about 8:00 Friday morning (2:00 am in Florida). We are hoping to put up all the main support walls, floor joists and primary trusses today. It is another very hot, sunny day in Rwanda, so we are all covered with sun screen. I think I am beyond sunscreen at this point (particularly my calves) so I have opted to cover up with long pants and long sleeves. It will make for a hot day, but probably the best way to go, since the sun was burning folks that had put on SPF 50 and 70.

Last night, the pizza was pretty good. They had cheese pizza, peperroni pizza, sausage pizza and pizza with potato, eggplant and mushrooms - I stayed with cheese pizza. I ate about 7 slices, and will probably pay for it today.

I think it is pretty funny because I have hardly eaten this trip, but Steve loves the food. I think I have seen him going back for seconds a couple of times. He even ate the casava, which had my stomach gurggling just looking at it.

Anyway, here are some of the latest pictures. I will try to send updates this morning and Saturday, but those will probably be the last until I return.

My plan is to do a final update after I get home and have had a chance to process all my thoughts about the trip.

Sleep well!

WALLS, sunburns and numb fingers

Considering we are really only completing our first full day, with yesterday being a little more than a half day, we are making great time.

Today, we finished all of the roof trusses, all of the floor joists and all of the walls. We didn't quite get to standing the walls, as it is a big task and we only have about an hour of daylight left.

We are experiencing some very HOT and SUNNY weather, particularly for this time of year in Rwanda. Even though we are using sun screen (some folks are using 50 and 70) most of us are still sun burned. I am doing fairly well, except for the back of my legs, which now look and smell like bacon.

Tonight we are all going out for pizza. I have barely been eating because the heat and hard work has really sapped my appetite. However, I think I might give the pizza a try.

Everyone is very tired, and tomorrow will be a very long, busy day if we want to get all of the walls, trusses and floor joist up. That will allow us some time to put up paneling on Saturday.

My ride is here, so I have to go.

More pictures tomorrow.

Her Name is "Perfect"

Before the containers arrived, I got to play with some of the kids. I showed about 25 of them my pictures of Grace and Claire. They all just stared.

"Perfect" was my closest friend today. She would not leave my side, and sat by me at our devotions this morning. I will let you decide whether her name fits her or not.

I gave a bunch of kids "pony rides" on my knee. It was fun for the first 10 to 15.

I have seriously hurt my back, but I keep stretching it out and going on. I hope that my chiropracter has openings as soon as I get back.

Grace, you would have lots of fun helping at VBS. First, however, you have to show me that you can survive on a diet of fried potatos, plantains, peas and fish. That is pretty much the staple that we get at every dinner.

CONTAINERS!!!!!

Well, after all the waiting, and waiting and waiting, the containers finally showed up around 10:30. After some coordination with the drives to get the trucks to a place where we could just toss most of the supplies down the hill, we got to moving metal!

It took until about 3:45 to get all of the containers unloaded, and then we started building trusses and floor joists. There are about 80 trusses, and we completed 25 of them before dark.

I am so impressed with how hard everyone worked. I am sure there will be lots of sore people tomorrow (not just us old folks).

I would like to blog more, but I am exhausted, as dirty as I have ever been, as most of my day was up in the trucks pushing out the metal. Because the containers had to be over 100 degrees, I am sopping wet, covered in grease and dirt, with a fair amount of blood on my shirt. Steve and Tim did a lot of the heavy duty with me, and Wayne coordinated things outside the truck, where the Rwandans were distributing everything to its correct place.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. It would be great to finish the trusses (we are making them on about a 4 minute pace as of 6:00 this evening), all the floor joists, and get most of the walls at least made (but not set). We have an unbelievable amount to get done in our very short time remaining, but we are going to give it our all.

Michelle, kiss my girls. You are my rock, and I am ready to give you a hug (although I know you wouldn't do it right now - given my peculiar odor and filth).