Up goes the Roof, On goes the Pargeting, and Down goes the dirt

With the opening of the school a week away from Tuesday morning, the team begins charging full throttle towards the finish line. Along with the locals, hired carpenters, masons, benders, and us, there are over 50 people swarming the site (I can only imagine the parallel between us and the ants that constantly trails through the periphery of our site). Groups of people are delegated different tasks from putting up the roof structure, pargeting the walls, filling and leveling the courtyard, building latrines, all the way to completing the classroom furniture. All these processes are more delicate than all the digging and pouring work we have been doing, subsequently it became much more tedious to learn the carpenters and masons’ techniques that made electric tools look as unnecessary than a wool sweater. Although the many of us are feeling pretty exhausted from working 10 hour days everyday, the hopes of creating new and improved classrooms kept us going. The works aren’t always the most interesting, so the sideline discussions, the silly fun we would have (that got captured on video or photographs) often becomes highlights of our days. Of course, we often derive the most amusement out of watching the time lapse for each day, where we get a very different perspective on how the day was spent (and as I have discovered in multiple footages, people does a lot more walking in circles than they believe). It really feels quite amazing to be able to work with a group of people who are connected by their hunger and passion for change.