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| Laying the second course of block. |
Unfortunately, we had two team members down for the morning with a bout of jetlag and dehydration, but after resting through the morning, they bounced back and were able to join us mid-day.
The house build is up to the fifth layer of block on two walls and everything is progressing nicely. Mixing dakka (mortar) and hauling 8kg blocks all day was taxing on our backs, but so worth it when we saw how much we accomplished by the end of the work day. The woman of the house for whom we're building the house for (Nomusa) and her 10 year old son (Domeso) worked along side us and it was great to see their excitement.
The VBS program was received with excitement and over 30 children participated. The children made mobiles about God's creation and sang songs in both Zulu and English. More children are expected to show up tomorrow as the word of our arrrival spreads throughout the village.
The play ground installation team made outstanding progress. Nine holes were dug and poles were installed to accomodate a tire climb, net climb, a ladder, ramp and swings. We expect to complete the installation tomorrow morning.
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| Installing the playground equipment. |
Counseling met with the social workers to learn about the preferred topics to cover with the care takers or other women in the village for when they start to meet in small groups. Three home visits were completed with approximately 26 more to go.
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| The children have heard that we are in Shongweni! |
Our day ended with an amazing 4th of July celebration. What a surprise for us to walk into the conference room for dinner and see the entire room decorated with red, white and blue streamers, balloons, and flags. Hamburgers, brats, potato salad, ice cream and cake were all on the menu. Shara and Julie arranged the whole thing and made it very special. They even had sparklers and poppers for us to go outside and have our own 4th of July Fire Works Show. We ended it with singing the National Anthem, "Star Spangled Banner" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Happy Birthday America - African style!
