Buenos dias todos!
This week has been going by so quickly, likely because we've been hard at work! On Wednesday we had our second day of constructing a basketball court, and it was extremely productive. Our primary goal was to lay all of the concrete (for our half of the court) in a day, through a labour intensive wheelbarrow system. Some people in the group, including myself, were tasked with shoveling sand, gravel and rocks into the wheelbarrows, before they were taken over to the concrete mixer. Others moved and dumped the loads of mixed concrete onto the court, while another group moved the bags of cement over to the machine. Some individuals even got the chance to operate the mixing machine, and pour the cement. We were fortunate enough to get to work alongside a local construction team, and under their guidance and expertise we managed to lay all of the concrete for the floor of the court! After an 8 hour work day we were rewarded with a stop at SweetFrog, a Dominican ice cream shop, before heading home for dinner. Our day concluded with a campfire/circle time discussion that branched off into multiple fireside conversations afterwards.
Our last day of construction was on Thursday, and it was another long but rewarding day. Our last steps of the project was extending the back walls of the court, digging a hole for a septic tank, and using wire to reinforce the rebar. Towards the end of the day we were asked to help pour more concrete, and we completed the task via a line of passing buckets. While the wall expansion was supposed to take an hour, Dominican time meant that we were working at it for over two! However, we managed to make a significant impact on the project in those few hours and we left exhausted but happy.
After our return home on Thursday we were introduced to our new pet, a stray kitten named Bugz. Jake and Vince found her on a neighbourhood walk, and Ava, our resident animal lover, was more than willing to take the kitten in. Ava had even bought cat food at the mall last week, and it's safe to say it came in handy much sooner than she expected!
Overall, these last few days have been a good combination of productive and enjoyable. We all enjoyed the long car rides to the school, we got to see new parts of the city and countryside, from street-venders selling pineapples and empanadas, to small farms and villages. We continue to enjoy the food, playing with the neighbourhood kids, and evening walks. Our team also gets along famously, with all of us sharing many inside jokes, hilarious nightly games, and long discussions on the roof. We ask that you pray for safety, health/healing, and that God continues to uses our group for great things here in the DR.
-Alice
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