Friday, April 30th, 2010

Prepared by Patty

At 7:45am we were off to the work site with paintbrushes, rollers and trays in hand, eager to begin painting the primer coat on the concrete walls. We started in the adult library and the morning proved to be very hot with so little air circulating. We were happy to get the first room finished so we could move onto the corridor where there was a cross breeze from the open doors. By mid morning our efforts had attracted close to a dozen young boys who were keen to get involved. Whether we were painting or sanding, they were fast on our trail to help. With all that enthusiasm, I suggested we clean the grounds of refuse that had accumulated from the work project. It was a very productive morning and we all felt exhausted by the time we packed up our things to head back for lunch.

After lunch, we had a much needed rest before heading back into the community for the afternoon tutorials. Our computer lesson for the day was Excel and we had a special surprise for the kids; we put on a slide show of the pictures we had taken all week. I think the teachers enjoyed that as much, if not more than the kids. Following the lesson, we gave the kids more time to practice their typing skills and those who wanted to apply their artistic talents could try out Microsoft Paint to practice their mouse skills. On the way back from teaching, we stopped for a beverage at the roadside café.

We had fried chicken and french fries for dinner and then put our heads together to figure out how we could all watch one of the movies Robb brought. We hooked the laptop to the Patty’s projector and used the wall as our screen. The picture was crystal clear!

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Prepared by Kathleen

Up for 7 a. m. breakfast of egg with onion, toast and juice before heading of to the library. Robb will be helping the carpenters with the ceiling and Patty and I will continue with our sanding of the walls in preparation for painting. Half way through the morning Patty and I headed out with Reuben (the mason), to buy primer for the walls. They will need one of primer and then two coats of paint. It was exceptionally hot in the airless rooms, so occasional breaks were taken to bring down our body temperatures. Robb had a great morning as a carpenter’s assistant and was reluctant to leave for lunch. The ceiling work has really progressed rapidly. The carpenters work hard, long days.

On our way home from the library we were lucky to find that the local court was in progress. It is an open-aired courtroom where community disputes are resolved before a magistrate that comes once a week.

In the afternoon we headed back to school to continue with computer lessons… some new memory games and more typing tutor. We also played with the blow globes and some girls tried to teach me a foot jumping game called Ampe. I was quite pathetic much to their great amusement.

After school we went to the bead factory and had an interesting lesson on bead making from the owner – a member of the Int’l Bead Making Assoc. who has traveled the world to Association meetings. We each bought several pieces of bead jewelry. It was a fascinating journey to and from the factory through the busy streets of people selling their wares and doing their shopping after work.

Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs with our usual glass of wine and an early night to bed.

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Prepared by Robb

We began the day with the usual breakfast of eggs, toast and porridge. Patty read the journal from Tuesday and then it was off for our first day working on the library. On the way, we stopped to visit the Queen Mother at the palace who was having a meeting with Mayor Sam and the first Chief. We arrived at the library and the carpenters had already begun working on the ceiling in one of the rooms. The three of us spent the first hour trying to find the appropriate jobs for each of us. We tried hammering the ceiling strips. Kathleen was the best at it and I was the worst. We finally settled into Kathleen sweeping, Patty scrapping the walls and I helped hold the ceiling tiles while it was sawed, then handed to the carpenters as well as taking out the trash. It was very hot and the sweat was pouring heavy. It was a long but productive four hours.

Patty and I walked back for lunch and along the way stopped by the Methodist Junior High School. The teacher I worked with last year was holding special vacation classes and it was great to see him. I even recognized several of the students. We tried to get the students to come to computer class.

Lunch was fried chicken for the second day in a row!

The afternoon began with a nice thunderstorm and it did not rain until we got to the school for the computer class. The rain was heavy with hail and lasted for a short time. Made you really notice the lack of lights in the school as it was dark. Only about 15 students showed up, but they were all so excited to have hands on with the computers. After class we returned to the compound and it continued to rain. I finished a book (The Help) and Patty and Kathleen started a huge puzzle. It will likely take days to finish! Another good day in Senchi Ferry!

Nothing has happened today except kindness. Gertude Stein