Monday in the DR

Our morning ride arrived at 8:30 and we stopped into a lumber yard for supplies.  Ordered wood for delivery and bought nails, screws, glue, drill bits, screwdriver bits, etc.  Took about an hour to decide on best materials for what we wanted to do, balanced against what they had available.  Not like Home Depot - at all!!  Then off to the school to prepare the space where we are going to be building and installing the shelf units.  Moved several hundred humidified books from 2 cupboards that are to be shortened and moved to another room.  Got one done in the morning.  A window that will be covered up by the new shelves was removed and the hole will be blocked in by a mason this afternoon.  We left at noon to get lunch and a bit of rest.  On the drive back, Kelvin (driver/assistant with Servant’s Heart, called the lumber yard and determined that the wood had arrived at the school.  So hopefully we get to the measuring and cutting after lunch.  Bea has volunteered to wash the mildew out the old cupboards prior to moving them.

The Mason Fills in the Window Opening

Choosing Materials at the Lumber Yard

Started the afternoon by carrying and lifting boards up to the second floor of the school addition where we had the tools stored to keep them away from the kids and lock them up for the night to deter thieves.  Vic, John, David and Kelvin made a good start on measuring and cutting boards so that we will be able to start assembling shelf units in the morning.  The electric saw decided to die just as we were getting going.  Thankfully the battery powered saw was up to the task and we had 4 batteries available to keep charging and changing.  

Marking, Cutting and Sanding

Lifting up the Boards

Bea meanwhile was carrying out a task for the school administrator.  Some of the school instruction books were in such bad shape that they needed to be taped together.  Bea said that if she had been given this job the first year she was down helping in the DR, that she would have cried in despair at what the teachers have to work with, but she has become used to the pathetic conditions encountered in the schools here.  There is simply no money to keep buying new workbooks, so they get used year after year until they completely fall apart.  I must get a picture tomorrow.

Today being very humid, and with the physical work, we tired quickly and gave in around four o’clock and went home to eat and recuperate for tomorrow.