2 Days later

On Sunday, we had our orientation where the representative from Habitat For Humanity explained to us what we should expect and what would be happening for the next few days at the build site. To prepare us for the build we visited the site. So as the Betty said, (the HFH Rep) to get us mentally prepared for our work the next day.

It was another roller coaster ride up the county side of Kumasi to the Village. As we drove up the winding dirt roads children with bright smiling faces all waved at us frantically.

To the left see a picture of 2 of the houses that have had the most work done for our project. We will be working on 3 houses maybe four depending on how far we get. You may think that the picture is of 1 house but is actually 2. The one in front has the foundation and half of the walls completed. The one in the back that looks the tallest has the walls completed and just needs the roof. The 3rd house only had the foundation completed. We expect to have half of the walls done.

Monday -

We got to the build site at 7am. We were split into 3 groups. Each group to work on a different house. 1 group's primary responsiblity was to help with the getting the beams ready for the roofing. The 2nd and 3rd groups who worked to builid up the walls. The activities included moving heavy bricks, carrying mortar, and placing mortar between the bricks to construct the walls.

The Habitat workers got a good kick out of watching us work. We found much effort in all the tasks that they do with out whincing. It was already hot at 7am and getting hotter. The HFH carpenters and masons had no issues and kept working continuously. They climbed better, hammered faster, threw mortar cleaner and all with very minimal sweat. We on the other hand were drenched and filthy from hammering crooked, throwing more mortar on the floor and ourselves than the walls. Oh yeah and Douglas was up on top of the roof and because he was not as skilled as the construction workers at balancing on thin boards and hammering. Sat on the edge of the wall...and oops a brick fell from the wall. That was the end of his roofing responsiblitites.

I think Deborah and Renee had a competition to see who could carry the most bricks. I really can't say which one of them did because they both really really did carry a lot of them. Deborah claimed she was was promoted by the Daniel the Mason to boss. Hahahahaha he went a long with it and kept checking the precision of the working being done.

We met one of the families that will be living in the home that is having the roof attched. So they will be moving in very soon. The wife (Comfort Tetteh) worked with us today and will again be with us tomorrow. After the build we took a ride to where Comfort and her family currently are living. They live with approximately 20 families in one building. You can imagine the lack of privacy that they have. The bathroom that all in the area of the home is approximately 4 blocks away and is a public bathroom the everyone uses. There is no bathroom in the home. The Tetteh family is very grateful for the work we are doing to help them realize the dream of home ownership. Below is a picture of Comfort and 3 of her sons. The other children were away and the father was at work.

Before I have any internet issues I'm going to end this post now. I might just be pushing it to the limit. Just wanted to let everyone know that we are all doing fine even though a little tired on the 1st day. 6 more days of work to go!