So this is my first attempt at a blog. Amanda thought it was high time I took part in it, I guess she thought my presence in the pictures wasn't enough. We made another trip to New Jerusalem orphanage with Black and Veatch this past weekend. There were a number of teams that worked on a variety of projects for the orphanage. New Jerusalem is currently housing roughly 80 kids and with sleeping rooms of wall to wall bunk beds, they are very limited on space. So each team was focused on certain areas of the orphanage to help improve the facilities and prepare it for building a expansion. One team laid 300 square meters (since we are in South Africa, everything is in metric units, so no feet/inches!) of sod, another sanded and prepared recycled windows for the new building, another installed a sewer pipe for the new building, and our team demolished and removed all the rubble from a small annex to the staff quarters. BV rented a few backhoes with operators to help with the demolition and earth removal. After lunch, pretty much all of the activities were completed except for the sewer pipe. So rather than doing the smart thing and leaving right after lunch, I made an executive decision and decided Amanda and I should stick around to see if they needed help finishing it up. So we were tasked with raking the dirt for the area where the pipe was installed. Perfect timing for the sun to come out. It only took an hour or two to finish up, but that was enough time to get sun burned and make raking all that dirt miserably hot. At least the orphanage is now ready for an expansion.
-Ben Connell
1 comment:
Most people go to Africa to build houses... you go to tear them down. And that's why I like your blog post, Ben Connell... because you're honest. You don't pretend like there is grass in Africa; instead you boldly proclaim that you "raked the dirt." So here's to you, Ben Connell, I raise a can of root beer (because I'm at work... in America).
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