Day 3 – Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It’s off to work we go…

Today we learned that at least some of the kids here get up at 4 AM. And then they use the cool of darkness to clean the courtyard and begin preparing for breakfast. This appears to include rolling noisy carts past our open bedroom windows…..but this is another one of those reality check things.

The kids leave for school at 7. In order to get 54 of them fed, the breakfast bell rings at six. In order to cook all of that food, they have to start preparing at five. And the morning chores sure don’t do themselves. So again, this is not about our convenience…it’s about trying to get 54 kids off to a good start.

For us, the day began quite a bit later. The “work-week” schedule starts with breakfast at seven, a bit of time to clean up and have some quiet time before we report for duty at 8:30.

Today’s work detail: for the youth, digging trenches to install irrigation for the courtyard/soccer field. For the adults, bending and tying re-bar, making grates for the first floor windows of the girls’ dorm (to protect the windows from speeding soccer balls), and repairing drawers for the kids’ clothes.

When the kids arrived back from school, the youth stopped their trench-digging to do VBS with them while the adults continued with their assignments.

Twenty-one very tired team members dragged to dinner at about six and ate the most delicious quesadilla-type-thing ever placed on a plate. The adult team has also begun researching a comparative study into mango-eating techniques and provided a detailed description of the texture of okra to our younger brethren. Mealtimes bring joy and laughter on so many levels!

This evening’s reward for a hard day of work: a walk to the corner shop for ice cream, quick team debriefs, and then EARLY to bed!!!