Friday the 13th

When I realized it was Friday the 13th I hoped the day wouldn’t live up to its superstitious status after Thursday’s stuck truck incident. As I drove the access road, the telltale tire tracks from the flatbed led around the bend in the road to a slightly dug up squash field sans semi-trailer and a clear road to the property. Yeehaa…we’re back in business. The volley of hauling and emptying trucks of sand began again as Sam and I spent the morning laying out the final string lines for the guesthouse and school foundations. His crew installed a series of wooden stakes to which horizontal sticks were nailed for locating the grid of string lines representing both the future exterior and interior walls. After measuring twice, redoing it twice, then stringing it all, the crew went to work digging. It was very hot and I still can’t believe how hard and long these guys work–digging endlessly, hacking with both axes and cutlasses–to remove brush and tree stumps.

Since I wasn’t going to pick up a shovel or cutlass to help in this heat, I took the opportunity to scrawl “Gbarnga Lutheran Mission Project – November 2015” in the just-plastered side of the warehouse ramp and take some self-timer photos with my band of boys.