Oh! What a busy day! Everything seemed to happen at once this morning! Dawda, the mason came to start working on the wall. We thought that all he was going to do today was make the forms for the pillars and that the actual work would start tomorrow but he brought a couple guys with him to start digging out the footer for the pillar boxes. Well, the gates had to be hauled to the back of the property. The motor king (3 wheeled utility vehicle) would not start so we had to call a mechanic. He had to take the carburetor apart and clean it. It took him about an hour to get it running. Simeon, the young man who we hired to cut the road for the project last week showed up today. He wanted to see if we would hire his brother to work on the wall so he could get some money for school fees. We did not have any work for him because we had already contracted with Dawda to hire some men. Steve cut the boards for the pillars as Dawda measured them. Once the motor king was up and running we asked Mr. Iddrisu if he would drive it for us today. Zorash did not show up for work so Meri and I worked the Child Center by ourselves most of the morning because Steve had to help Dawda. This morning 46 mothers came to the Center! A couple of Dawda’s men did not show up so we pulled Nazo off his normal raking and painting job and had him move gravel. We had to fill and refill 6 gallon plastic containers with water and haul to the job site for them to mix the cement for the pillars. I lost count of how many trips Steve had to make to town to buy stuff for the project. It is amazing how much water 6 men can drink on a hot day when they are working in the sun. There is no shade at the back of the property where they are repairing the wall. Mid afternoon Steve took pity on the men and cut the watermelon we had in the fridge and took it to them for a snack. They ate every bit of the watermelon. You have never seen anyone eat so close to the rind.
The men worked late today; they did not finish up until 5:30. By the end of the day Dawda finished the 49 foot section. He said that tomorrow he would not have to stay so late because they would be able to start earlier and they have more than half the work finished. We passed out Ibuprofen when they finished working today. Mr. Iddrisu and Nazo were proud of the extra pay Steve gave them.
After the men were paid Dawda told me that he was not going to go home; he was going to stay and eat supper with us. I told him he was out of luck because I had not cooked anything!
Thank you for all you do for us!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
