Work continued on putting “shiny floors” in the classrooms and they’ve now reached the offices. Each room takes about 18 bags of cement – nearly 2,000 pounds dry and even heavier when wet. They mix batches on the front porch then hand carry it inside to spread using some string level lines stretched across side-to-side. The bright side of this hard work is that it’s in the shade!
With some of the classroom floors dry enough to walk on, it’s irresistible for a few little kids to run in them! The workers wet the floors each day to help them cure which makes it even more fun to run through puddles.
We’re getting ever closer to installing our six solar panels to run the well pump. I’m waiting until all security means have been completed to avoid the possibility of theft. We’ve tested and run the system using the generator, finding a few minor leaks in fittings that just needed tightening. The crew spent yesterday welding “Y-shapes” of angle iron to support the razor wire then started setting the posts in concrete. We started putting up the cyclone fence today, but Eagle Electric was way off in their estimated length for each roll (they only cover about 34 linear feet) plus they were out of stock beyond the 3 rolls I bought. When I get back to Monrovia I’ll have to get more. I do miss having a Lowe’s and Home Depot right around the corner for every job I work on at home!
Part of today was spent just playing! There’s a trio of little girls – Dusu, Kou (“co – OOH”, and Favor – that spend a lot of time at the site. They swing on the water tower and play cooks. They show how they can hop on one foot. I drew pictures on their bellies to create 
belly button animals. I got them started with a stacking game using parts of fence piping and showed them how to play a “pipe fitting xylophone” with different lengths and diameters producing different pitches. An older boy, Ricky, arrived and had to join in to show how much better boys are! Ricky should be in school today but his uniform is dirty and
he can’t wear it…no clean uniform, no school. You’ll notice on the middle girl, Dusu, that she’s wearing a beaded chain around her abdomen. Parents put these on their children as a way to “ward off malaria”.
Gbarnga Mission | Liberia - West Africa 