First thing in the morning, Jen, Dave and Cheri caught up on blogging. It's amazing how difficult it is in these busy, busy days to find time to write about our activities, go through the dozens (if not hundreds!) of photos everyone is taking, merge them, and get them sent off. It can become frustrating because, while keeping everyone apprised about what's happening here is such a high priority for us, many days we simply can't get it done! The unexpected happens over and over, and by the time we've fed ourselves at the end of the day we're too exhausted to think, much less write. The solution: You each must come with us and see all this for yourself!
After spending the early part of the morning at Michelangelo's doing research, Troy and Brian went out to take pictures of the children at the school (in preparation for the "100 'partnerable' children" for this year's Golden Gate Bridge Walk.) Bryn and Tom stayed on at Michelangelo's continuing to research mosquito netting, the pluses and minuses of insecticides for nets, English curricula, Life Straws, and more.
Back at the apartment, we met for a quick lunch before Gaudencia came by to ferry us out to Kantolomba. Her truck is marvelous for this part of the world, a two-seater with a full bed. Alas, we had more folks than seats so Bryn and Tom gallantly hopped in the back allowing Dave, Jen, and Cheri the opportunity for a much-needed meeting with Gaudencia about the building.
As anyone who has done construction knows, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for people to grasp one another's vision for a building–even with blueprints! As it turns out, our building is on three levels. We had no idea. Doesn't look like that on the plans! We were able to get to a new plan that makes the various levels not an issue, but it remains worrisome. Buildings have a tendency to leak. There's great evidence that buildings here leak--a lot. We really want ours not to, and it's very difficult to keep track of how construction is being accomplished when we are 12,000 miles from the site.
Looking at the plans at the building site.
As we walked around the building site, we attempted to lay out locations for water distribution, primarily the kiosk and spigots. It seems our well is not producing as much water as we had hoped, and we have a growing concern that it will not provide enough for the Community Center needs. There's a plan afoot to "blow out" the well, clearing the schist out of passages, and allowing more water to flow in. As we laid out our water needs for the medical center, it became clear that now is not the time to build a kiosk to serve the community. This is a huge financial savings, but it also makes clear how desperately we need the next well.
Surveying the property for placement of the water taps.
We hoisted Dave up on the roof of the kitchen building to make his 360-degree video of the property. The first video was taken before anything was done to the property, other than the fence. This time we have a site that looks a lot like an archeological dig, surrounded by a very busy community gathering place. It actually looks like a completely different property from the one we purchased, so we're happy we took the original video and eager to take additional footage each time we visit.
Dave taking video from the roof.
Over in the "palapa," Tracey met with Sam, the local tailor and sewing teacher, about our projects for the sewing cooperative: meditation pants, monk bags, skirts, blouses, and baby bibs. Very exciting! We learned in the sewing conversation that Sam also teaches English. We're putting him together with Bryn, who is attempting to establish English classes for the Living Compassion gals and the primary school teachers.
Sam, the tailor.
We all moved out to the back of the kitchen building to record Everesto's story. His is such a heart-warming, inspiring tale (hiding in the school when it's closed for the night so he can have electric light to study by, praying for the strength to do his studying without any food), that we are creating the video to send back to a filmmaker friend in the hope that Everesto's story might become a "Disney movie."
Tom showing Everesto his laptop computer. Everesto has never used a computer.
Trooping back over the "women's road" to Lubuto to catch taxis home, we are feeling very, very good about all we're doing.
A stunning Kantolomba sunset.