After three very different and amazing cultural days it was time to go back to work. Monday thru Thursday are scheduled work days – 4 days in a row! Instead of trying to create a blog for each of these 4 days I will try to capture what is like being on this HANDS team in Nicaragua.
The day starts around 6:00am. One of my roommates is always the first to get up – he too is an ex-dairy farmer and does not mind the early rising. I usually follow within 15 minutes, leaving the last two guys to get up within the next half hour.
The first stop after a washroom break and a bit of freshening up, is to our good friend, the coffee pot. Slowly everyone gathers around and by 7:00am breakfast is set out for us. The cooks are amazing and never seen without a smile. The person in charge of devotions for the day opens with prayer and then we eat all together in the open aired covered pavilion. The weather today, tomorrow and the foreseen future: warm and sunny, turning hot by 11:00am.
Lester arrives before 7, with Pete and Trudy arriving before 7:30. Sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 everyone gathers their stuff for the day and load up in the van – all 15 of us in one van. We are lucky, the ride is a mere 10 minutes and Lester is at the helm.
The Jobsite is Caroline de Sirkir Christian School where we are helping build an additional two classes along with two washrooms. Netty, and his workers are always there before us, even though Netty and his son have to bike an hour to the site.
There are four main tasks for us to do; three of them usually happening simultaneously: Cleaning and painting of purloins, tying of rebar, and dirt work on the building site. The fourth task is the making and placing of the cement which takes most of the team to complete.
10:00 am is our first official break. The cookie Lady (Trudy) treats everyone to a small package of cookies. Lunch is at noon and is prepared for us Gringos by local restaurant which Lester picks up. We eat together in a Gazebo a few short steps from the job site. After an hour or so of rest we head back for more of the same work.
2:30pm is Eskimo time (Ice cream). A local ice-cream vendor arrives with his peddle version of an ice-cream truck. We treat him well and he arrives early every day – a classic mutually beneficial reciprocal relationship.
Around 3:45 it is clean-up time when all the tools are packed and locked away, ready for another day. At 4:00pm it’s back in the van for our 10-minute drive to the Nehemiah Center – our home for the 11 days in Nicaragua. Some days we stop at a local grocery store where we stock up supplies; yogurt, ice-cream and junk food are the most popular items.
As soon as we arrive back, the four showers in the four separate rooms which we are staying get busy. 13 showers later and everyone is clean. Time to relax and mingle till supper at 6:00pm. The meals have a surprisingly and good variety and are enjoyed by all.
After supper we all gather together for our evening devotions. Heather and Henriette lead us in song. There is something so special when we open up to others what is going on in our lives. Often these times are raw and filled with emotions. Devotions are often concluded with Muff’s question of the day
The rest of the evening is free time; a time of relaxing, catching up on things, reading or phoning loved ones back home. By 10:00 pm almost everyone is in bed, preparing the body for another day’s work.
Comments