Home Building 101

After a great nights sleep, we began the day with a simple breakfast and a time for prayer and a devotional.  We received our assignments the night before, however, I had fallen asleep so I couldn’t remember where I was supposed to be.  Denny obliged me by repeating where everyone was to go and we grabbed a sack lunch (Thanks, Ellen!) while heading for the trucks.  Bryan, Paul and Chuck spent the day at the production center arranging the new tools and streamlining the process of producing the panels for the transitional houses.  Nickolas and Denny showed up after lunch to help.

Tom and Nickolas spent the morning realigning the towers for internet service to the barrio.  The earthquake damaged the towers by moving them offline by about 45 degrees.  This left the school without reliable internet service.  Tom and Adrian then spent the next few hours resetting all the gizmos and gadgets that make it all work.

Denny drove Laura, Mery and Moriah to Balilihan to meet Annalyn and Angelyn.  These girls are sisters that both suffer from extreme cerebral palsley.  They spent a short time with them just to meet them get to know them a little better.  After that, Denny drove them to Patricia’s house in Balilihan.  Denny met Patricia a few months ago.  She was born with no legs but has a great attitude about life.  Just recently, because she had not been able to pay her rent of $1 per month, she was forced to move in with her brother.  However, he didn’t have room for her so she lives in a tent in his yard.  As hard as that is to believe, what is harder to believe is her attitude toward her circumstances.  When asked she smiles and says “I have a house so I am happy, it is very peaceful here.” Remarkable.  Here is her picture:

Tom B.,Katie, Cody, Richard, Sheila and myself spent our day at the construction site working with a team of 12 carpenters and laborers.  We nearly finished one home and made considerable progress on a second home.  For the third home, we first needed to knock down the damaged home that was in place.  It is leaning at about a 15 degree angle from the horizontal.  I included a few pictures.