We have been so blessed with donations and volunteers lately. The first picture is off the orphanage van full of all the donations we brought back from Price Smart. Thanks Mike.Then we got a suitcase of boys clothes. Thanks Stacy. Vanessa brought down a bunch of stuff. Little girls clothes, OTC meds, plastic sheets, a kid computer and much more. Sunday we had a touring group of opera singers who left a ton of personal care kids with shampoo, soap, toothbrush, etc.
We just got an intern for 5 weeks from my University. NC State. And in mid July we have 25 volunteers coming for a month to work on the land planting, landscaping, etc. that is in addition to our other already planned groups. It keeps me busy and inspired. And a couple of girls are coming from Utah for a month.
I have a couple of pics of our newest little one. He and Noah stay at my house 3 or 4 afternoons a week. It is alot of fun for us here. His name is Edwin and he was the one folund abandoned on the road. They found a dead baby at the market here just 3 blocks from the orphanage so this week we are trying to figure out how to get the word out so other babies can be dropped at the orphanage door. Pedro is picking up our new one year old tomorrow and taking Fernanda to visit her Mother's grave and bringing back her sister to live with us. We are also supposed to get a 3 year old girl being sexaully abused by relatives.
The pics are not cooperating and going where I want them to, so you will just have to guess what pic goes where. The last two pics are of the building team. One is of the actual builders and the other of my husband and Pedro who are managing the team. My husband will write the building news next.
We hired a maestro de obra to supervise the construction of the first building. He is much like a contractor. For Q200,000 (about $30K) he will handle the labor on the construction that includes everything but the septic, which a volunteer team will do, and the doors and windows. We expect the materials to run another $30K. The building is 10.5 meters square (roughtly about a 1000 sq. ft.) with a second floor and 3rd floor balcony. We had an architect design a building and I changed the layout slightly to eliminate the hall. This first building is a girls' dorm on the ground floor and a boys' dorm on the second.
We want to build a second building adjacent to this one with about the same dimensions. It will house the kitchen and dining area, bodega (storage), offices and classrooms. We expect the cost to be about the same. While we have the money for the first, we need to raise the money for the second. We will need your help here.
We are digging a well--by hand! A hole about 3 feet wide is--as of yesterday--15 meters down which is about 46 feet or so. The soil is very wet and we hope to end about 20 meters. We expect the cost to be about $2000 once it is lined and we buy a pump. One man is down in the hole with a shovel filling a 6 gallon bucket with dirt and rocks. The other man pulls it up with a rope and then lowers it again to repeat the process.
Well gotta go work. Life is definitely interesting here.
Vicki and Jody
No comments:
Post a Comment