We awoke on Monday feeling tired from our hectic weekend, and to make things worse we have just had our hottest day here- we heard it hit 42 degrees in the area today!
We arrived on site and were split into 2 teams- a small whitewash team, and a larger team for doing foundations. Glen finally got his taste of whitewashing (at last!!)
The day was extremely warm, and was difficult for myself and the rest of the foundation team. We dug the trench out and filled it with stones and mortar before morning break, and by lunchtime had got a good double layer of bricks in as well. Despite the heat, by the end of the day we had realised we had moved close to 2000 bricks on top of digging, cement making and various other wee tasks!! It was an outstanding achievement and even the mason seemed very pleased...not as pleased as ourselves of course!!
Lorna made her first big mistake of the trip by stating that if she worked any harder she would have to strip off and work naked- Johnny and Roger both seemed very motivated by the idea!! Adam Stewart also excelled himself as the chief cement guy, frequently berating Sam and Johnny for their poor cement mixing skills
Glen's whitewashers also worked very hard, completing the whitewash by lunchtime and spending the afternoon shifting gravel around the house
Returning to the hotel, we all took a well deserved break. The four-man tower was finally achieved in the pool, as well as Lorna making her second mistake of the trip by threatening to steal Rogers shorts- which was misinterpreted by all as a threat to disrobe the poor lad!!
At half 6 we were all supposed to attend a presentation about Disaster mitigation and emergency crisis reaction strategies- exciting stuff!! However, as a good leader, i bit the bullet and told everyone to stay away and i would sacrifice my evening and would pass anything relevant onto them. Unfortunately Lorna and Susan thought i was joking and turned up!! Lorna stayed on but Susan ran as soon as she could. Lorna and myself proceeded to learn absolutely nothing useful for our team- thats an hour of sleep i could of had!! Although we all got free tshirts out of it so...silver lining and all that :)
We have finished dinner and are about to have our reflection time as a team, tonight led by Glen. Could we say a huge thank you to everyone who is thinking about us and praying for us at home, the days are flying by for us and we will soon be home!!!
Michael
Monday 11 July 2011
Relaxing weekend...i think not!!
Hi all,
Apologies for the lack of posts, tiredness and a busy weekend meant we weren't able to access the internet! Hope everything is well at home as the 12th draws near and the trouble associated with it increases....best wishes to all the Ballyclare folk who got caught in it!!
The weekend is usually a time of relaxation and rest- not for us hey!!! We got a glorious extra 15 minutes extra in bed on Sat morning, and then off we went to a temple called Chidambaram, dedicated to Lord Naharajah. It is one of the oldest Hindu temples in the world, with some parts dating from the 6th Century AD. This really impressed us, Blair in particular who enjoyed each and every second of the experience......especially the leprosy pool and the burning hot stones everywhere, combined with us all being barefoot due to shoes not being allowed in the temple.
Afterwards we went to a mangrove plantation where we had lunch in a hotel beside the lake, where we rushed for the french fries when they appeared. After lunch we went on a boatride on the lake. It was the ideal way to relax after the best lunch we have had since arriving in India, and gave a few of us a chance to work on our tans (only joking Naomi!! We were all sun screened up, honest). The only issue was that it was a bit boring after the first half hour of sitting in a lake, and the heat was incredible and was a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Returning to dry land, we took the 2 and a half hour bus ride back to the hotel and straight into showers, beds and the pool!! All in all it was a fairly uneventful day, with the only highlights being Blairs constant and persistent hatred of everything Indian, and the site of these manly young men running like women across the hot stones of the temple- Stephen (Badger) has never moved so fast without chasing Adam!!
Sunday was tough too, mainly because of the very early start 6.30m in order to attend St John's Church of South India. (I don't think Adam or Andrew knew such a time existed.) It is similar to a Church of Ireland service. During the service the team was invited to sing Shout to the Lord in front of a congregation of 30 locals. Near the end of the service they listed the birthdays and wedding anniversaries of all the members of the congregation. Since it was Glen's 1st wedding anniversary he was given a mention as well. All the birthday and anniversary people who were present including Glen went up to the front and has a special prayer said for them. To us it looked as if Glen was being exorcised.
After church we got breakfast and then went to the village to spend the rest of the morning with the children. The day consisted of a sports day for the children and playing games with the children. Johnny was the musical chair champion after nearly flattening a wee girl. Adam Stewart enterened the locals with some dancing and got rave reviews. Michael joined the irish fellows for a game of football (football, not soccer!!! crazy irish and their gaelic nonsense) in the rice fields. Blair played frisbee with some boys for nearly the whole time, while Andy showed off his skills with a nerf ball. Lorna and Susan did action songs and duck, duck, goose, while William entertained the kids with heads, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes!)
All in all it was a tiring but very enjoyable morning, with all having a good time! The afternoon was spent in the pool for most of the team (some of them unwillingly- Susan was dragged in!) and the task for the afternoon was building a four-man tower, with people sitting on each others shoulders. We epicly failed in the task but we had some great craic doing it, although by the end most of us had very painful friction burns on our shoulders! (friction, not sun honest!!)
Glen slept a lot, like old men do on a Sunday afternoon.
The evening time was a carefully coordinated dinner to celebrate Glen's anniversary, with it being the first time in a number of days since the whole team ate dinner together. Glen was unaware anything special was happening, but then a lovely cake was presented to him and we all sang a Happy Anniversary song to him (a terrible parody of Happy Birthday to you, but it worked). The team further surprised Glen by telling him that we had booked him a full body massage for the next day!! And when we say full body, we mean FULL BODY bar one obvious area! Glen was understandably delighted (and more than a little concerned)
The evening devotions on both nights were led by the younger guys, firstly Adam Stewart, Dale and Pastor Roger led us on the Saturday night and then Andrew, Johnny and Pastor Scullion on the Sunday night. Both groups focussed on how we should be so appreciative in the UK of what we have, compared to the lack of material possessions people have in India
That is a very brief summary of the weekend, not much happened to report and we were glad to be getting back to work on the Monday
Photos to follow!!
Michael, William and Glen
Apologies for the lack of posts, tiredness and a busy weekend meant we weren't able to access the internet! Hope everything is well at home as the 12th draws near and the trouble associated with it increases....best wishes to all the Ballyclare folk who got caught in it!!
The weekend is usually a time of relaxation and rest- not for us hey!!! We got a glorious extra 15 minutes extra in bed on Sat morning, and then off we went to a temple called Chidambaram, dedicated to Lord Naharajah. It is one of the oldest Hindu temples in the world, with some parts dating from the 6th Century AD. This really impressed us, Blair in particular who enjoyed each and every second of the experience......especially the leprosy pool and the burning hot stones everywhere, combined with us all being barefoot due to shoes not being allowed in the temple.
Afterwards we went to a mangrove plantation where we had lunch in a hotel beside the lake, where we rushed for the french fries when they appeared. After lunch we went on a boatride on the lake. It was the ideal way to relax after the best lunch we have had since arriving in India, and gave a few of us a chance to work on our tans (only joking Naomi!! We were all sun screened up, honest). The only issue was that it was a bit boring after the first half hour of sitting in a lake, and the heat was incredible and was a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Returning to dry land, we took the 2 and a half hour bus ride back to the hotel and straight into showers, beds and the pool!! All in all it was a fairly uneventful day, with the only highlights being Blairs constant and persistent hatred of everything Indian, and the site of these manly young men running like women across the hot stones of the temple- Stephen (Badger) has never moved so fast without chasing Adam!!
Sunday was tough too, mainly because of the very early start 6.30m in order to attend St John's Church of South India. (I don't think Adam or Andrew knew such a time existed.) It is similar to a Church of Ireland service. During the service the team was invited to sing Shout to the Lord in front of a congregation of 30 locals. Near the end of the service they listed the birthdays and wedding anniversaries of all the members of the congregation. Since it was Glen's 1st wedding anniversary he was given a mention as well. All the birthday and anniversary people who were present including Glen went up to the front and has a special prayer said for them. To us it looked as if Glen was being exorcised.
After church we got breakfast and then went to the village to spend the rest of the morning with the children. The day consisted of a sports day for the children and playing games with the children. Johnny was the musical chair champion after nearly flattening a wee girl. Adam Stewart enterened the locals with some dancing and got rave reviews. Michael joined the irish fellows for a game of football (football, not soccer!!! crazy irish and their gaelic nonsense) in the rice fields. Blair played frisbee with some boys for nearly the whole time, while Andy showed off his skills with a nerf ball. Lorna and Susan did action songs and duck, duck, goose, while William entertained the kids with heads, shoulders, knees and toes (knees and toes!)
All in all it was a tiring but very enjoyable morning, with all having a good time! The afternoon was spent in the pool for most of the team (some of them unwillingly- Susan was dragged in!) and the task for the afternoon was building a four-man tower, with people sitting on each others shoulders. We epicly failed in the task but we had some great craic doing it, although by the end most of us had very painful friction burns on our shoulders! (friction, not sun honest!!)
Glen slept a lot, like old men do on a Sunday afternoon.
The evening time was a carefully coordinated dinner to celebrate Glen's anniversary, with it being the first time in a number of days since the whole team ate dinner together. Glen was unaware anything special was happening, but then a lovely cake was presented to him and we all sang a Happy Anniversary song to him (a terrible parody of Happy Birthday to you, but it worked). The team further surprised Glen by telling him that we had booked him a full body massage for the next day!! And when we say full body, we mean FULL BODY bar one obvious area! Glen was understandably delighted (and more than a little concerned)
The evening devotions on both nights were led by the younger guys, firstly Adam Stewart, Dale and Pastor Roger led us on the Saturday night and then Andrew, Johnny and Pastor Scullion on the Sunday night. Both groups focussed on how we should be so appreciative in the UK of what we have, compared to the lack of material possessions people have in India
That is a very brief summary of the weekend, not much happened to report and we were glad to be getting back to work on the Monday
Photos to follow!!
Michael, William and Glen
Friday 8 July 2011
Day 4 and 5- whitewash madness!
Hi all,
Apologies for the lack of post yesterday, there was great excitement about visiting a western-style fast food joint last night which meant we ran out of time. Pizza hut and a KFC-like dinners two nights in a row is a welcome break from curry! But have no fear, we are back to the Indian tonite :)
Yesterday (Thurs) was a day much like Wed, with the team split between two houses. One team continued the whitewashing in one house, and the other was working on cementing and brickwork on the roof of another house. Yet again everyone worked very hard and we flew through the tasks. There was also a noticeable lift to morale and energy in the team, with everyone seeming much more lively. Either we are adapting better to the heat or it was pizza-inspired!
At night we hit CK Chicken, another sign of India striving to emulate the western world. It is much in the style of KFC back home. In one hand it is sad that the Indian people seem to think our lifestyle is something to follow- when you see the state our country and society is in sometimes it makes you wonder.
On the other hand- that was some goooooooood chicken!!! :D
At night Lorna and Susan led us in our reflection time, with a discussion about some of the struggles we have had this week- for Lorna it has been the heat (which was a widespread struggle in the group), for others it was the food and the last big struggle has been the language and culture barriers. Thankfully, no-one seemed to suggest that any of these struggles were ongoing- it seems like we have overcome them, and we can only thank God for that.
Today we were split into 3 groups, 2 for whitewashing (again!!) and one group working on cementing a roof. The whitewash has literally coated many of the team members by this point, with it being extremely stubborn to wash from hands- we were white enough to start with!! Blair also had an unfortunate incident with one homeowner as he tried to help the old man down from a ladder, only to realise that the old man was wearing no underwear and only had a cloth wrapped round him- Blair still shivers in fear at the memory of that sight
Johnny and Sam also had an unspoken competition to see who could get the most whitewash in their eyes- Sam's painful red eye is an unfortunate sign he won that
After lunch we were treated to a "cultural experience"- a traditional dance and performance group...or so we were assured. What it really was- an hour solid of loud drums, some dude on a clarinet and two women who, i swear, were just making up a dance as they went along. Then some guy performed rather cool circus-style tricks, and one of the dancer women was chased for 10 minutes by a man dressed as a giant peacock.
Still havent a clue what that is about.
For the finale members of the BB team and the Irish team were invited up to join in the dancing, with Lorna really getting into the swing of things while Glen and myself stood at the side and tried not to dance. Susan was also dragged up and forced to dance with the crazed dancer ladies.
Andrew, Blair and Sam were also all invited up but were too chicken, and clearly not confident in their manhood- i hope they read this (buk buk buk chickens!!)
So we have returned to the hotel now and are looking forward to a good Indian dish tonite :)
A few more note-worthy happenings-
Andrew and Adam have been late. A lot.
Roger and Adam decided to push one of the Irish girls into the pool when she was simply sunbathing beside it, prompting much shouting and a lot of laughter
William is now part-man, part-whitewash
Johnny continues in his attempts to woo Lorna, drawing her a picture and sharing a sort-of-romantic breakfast with her this morning.
Johnny has also been running away from anything with 8 legs
Dale told us he is really bad at throwing. Even knowing this, he continued to try to throw a ball today. He proved that he is really bad at throwing
Lorna has had to borrow Roger's swimming shorts, which actually look more suitable on her than Roger
Adam Stewart has entertained us all with a high-pitched squeal every time he jumps in the water
Badger continues to wow us all with chemical speak, today attempting to explain what DEET was. Bug spray is all we needed to know. He has also finally settled into the food, with his toilet visits much decreased :)
Blair is a woman who just about finished a tiny pizza, even though he spent close to an hour complaining about being really hungry. He also absolutely hates Indian music and spent most of the hour today watching the traditional dance with his fingers in his ears
Sam turned an odd shade of yellow today when any whitewash touched his arms. We still cant quite work that one out
And Glen has been sleeping an awful lot- old age is really catching up with him! He is also the only member of the team who hasnt white washed yet, and we still arent sure how he is getting away with it.
Susan has taken all of Adam's ginger jokes well, but it is only a matter of time til the red-head anger gets the better of her
So we are heading for dinner now, we hope and pray that everyone back at home is keeping well. Thank you to everyone who has left comments, we will be passing them on to the team tonite after our reflection time. We would still appreciate any more, so get signed up and comment to your heart's content!!
All the best,
Michael McConkey, BA, BB, KIA, RSPCA
and the undisputed fastest swimmer in the group (mwahahaha Johnny...)
Apologies for the lack of post yesterday, there was great excitement about visiting a western-style fast food joint last night which meant we ran out of time. Pizza hut and a KFC-like dinners two nights in a row is a welcome break from curry! But have no fear, we are back to the Indian tonite :)
Yesterday (Thurs) was a day much like Wed, with the team split between two houses. One team continued the whitewashing in one house, and the other was working on cementing and brickwork on the roof of another house. Yet again everyone worked very hard and we flew through the tasks. There was also a noticeable lift to morale and energy in the team, with everyone seeming much more lively. Either we are adapting better to the heat or it was pizza-inspired!
At night we hit CK Chicken, another sign of India striving to emulate the western world. It is much in the style of KFC back home. In one hand it is sad that the Indian people seem to think our lifestyle is something to follow- when you see the state our country and society is in sometimes it makes you wonder.
On the other hand- that was some goooooooood chicken!!! :D
At night Lorna and Susan led us in our reflection time, with a discussion about some of the struggles we have had this week- for Lorna it has been the heat (which was a widespread struggle in the group), for others it was the food and the last big struggle has been the language and culture barriers. Thankfully, no-one seemed to suggest that any of these struggles were ongoing- it seems like we have overcome them, and we can only thank God for that.
Today we were split into 3 groups, 2 for whitewashing (again!!) and one group working on cementing a roof. The whitewash has literally coated many of the team members by this point, with it being extremely stubborn to wash from hands- we were white enough to start with!! Blair also had an unfortunate incident with one homeowner as he tried to help the old man down from a ladder, only to realise that the old man was wearing no underwear and only had a cloth wrapped round him- Blair still shivers in fear at the memory of that sight
Johnny and Sam also had an unspoken competition to see who could get the most whitewash in their eyes- Sam's painful red eye is an unfortunate sign he won that
After lunch we were treated to a "cultural experience"- a traditional dance and performance group...or so we were assured. What it really was- an hour solid of loud drums, some dude on a clarinet and two women who, i swear, were just making up a dance as they went along. Then some guy performed rather cool circus-style tricks, and one of the dancer women was chased for 10 minutes by a man dressed as a giant peacock.
Still havent a clue what that is about.
For the finale members of the BB team and the Irish team were invited up to join in the dancing, with Lorna really getting into the swing of things while Glen and myself stood at the side and tried not to dance. Susan was also dragged up and forced to dance with the crazed dancer ladies.
Andrew, Blair and Sam were also all invited up but were too chicken, and clearly not confident in their manhood- i hope they read this (buk buk buk chickens!!)
So we have returned to the hotel now and are looking forward to a good Indian dish tonite :)
A few more note-worthy happenings-
Andrew and Adam have been late. A lot.
Roger and Adam decided to push one of the Irish girls into the pool when she was simply sunbathing beside it, prompting much shouting and a lot of laughter
William is now part-man, part-whitewash
Johnny continues in his attempts to woo Lorna, drawing her a picture and sharing a sort-of-romantic breakfast with her this morning.
Johnny has also been running away from anything with 8 legs
Dale told us he is really bad at throwing. Even knowing this, he continued to try to throw a ball today. He proved that he is really bad at throwing
Lorna has had to borrow Roger's swimming shorts, which actually look more suitable on her than Roger
Adam Stewart has entertained us all with a high-pitched squeal every time he jumps in the water
Badger continues to wow us all with chemical speak, today attempting to explain what DEET was. Bug spray is all we needed to know. He has also finally settled into the food, with his toilet visits much decreased :)
Blair is a woman who just about finished a tiny pizza, even though he spent close to an hour complaining about being really hungry. He also absolutely hates Indian music and spent most of the hour today watching the traditional dance with his fingers in his ears
Sam turned an odd shade of yellow today when any whitewash touched his arms. We still cant quite work that one out
And Glen has been sleeping an awful lot- old age is really catching up with him! He is also the only member of the team who hasnt white washed yet, and we still arent sure how he is getting away with it.
Susan has taken all of Adam's ginger jokes well, but it is only a matter of time til the red-head anger gets the better of her
So we are heading for dinner now, we hope and pray that everyone back at home is keeping well. Thank you to everyone who has left comments, we will be passing them on to the team tonite after our reflection time. We would still appreciate any more, so get signed up and comment to your heart's content!!
All the best,
Michael McConkey, BA, BB, KIA, RSPCA
and the undisputed fastest swimmer in the group (mwahahaha Johnny...)
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Day 3
Hi Everyone, firstly thank you for your kind comments and good wishes, I have printed them out and will be able to read them out after our reflection time later.. This time is becoming very special to all the team and what a great experience it is to sing Shine Jesus Shine on the roof of the hotel with flashes of lighting in the background..
The photos are of the team today on site, today has been much hotter and the 2nd team who where finishing digging foundations for a kitchen area at this house found it really tough, from experience the third days is always though as you try to break through the acclimatising barrier.. The afternoon wash much better though, we found out we are going out to get pizza for tea :) and as we where moving bricks and helping the mason start the foundation brick work..
On the other site William and the gang where doing that age old task of white washing, by the look of some of them this evening they done a good job of white washing each other too..
Past team members will recognise Sundar in one of the pictures he has been with all three Boys' Brigade teams and has been interpreting love songs for us from tamil to english.. Also for the 2009 team members I spoke with Winston on the phone today, he is trying to make arrangements to come and visit us before we leave and he also sends his good wishes to all the 2009 team.. He's still looking for his finished movie yet...!
Getting near to pizza time so better go, thanks again for all your comments, keep them coming...
Glen
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Day 2 down!
Hi all,
Day two is done and dusted (its was mighty dusty!) We worked in two areas, the majority of the team working on moving a pile of around 3500 bricks from the road to the building site of one house, while 3 of us soldiered on with sieving huge quantities of sand for plastering in another house.
Prayers were answered today and it was a lot cooler in the morning (although Adam Stewart disagrees!) and the team got on great guns, hammering through both jobs at a good pace. After our morning juice break, the sun appeared and the heat really ramped up- for the sand sieving group it was relentless as they had no shade, while the brick movers soldiered on.
Lunch was a welcome reprieve for the group, exhaustion and heat affecting some team members- but nothing a good load of food and rest didnt fix! Dont worry mums- everyone is still eating well and the water consumption is being kept high, surprisingly the guys are looking after themselves!
The afternoon saw a good deal of work done, ending at 4 o'clock. The brick movers had shifted over 2500 bricks in only 5 hours, with the plan only allowing for half of that number!! Again, the BB team surpasses expectations and keeps a strong work ethic in place, without pushing ourselves too hard- i think anyone who tries to keep up with Roger will crumble quickly! (the man is a machine!!)
Johnny has also learned a great deal about the world, such as the fact that horses produce milk (despite him owning horses) and that squeezing a baked bean flat doesnt take the air out of it and stop you farting...that last one had us (and him) cracking up
The Ballyclare pair (Andrew and Adam) also kept their standards going by being late- sleep was needed apparently
And Stephen taught us all the wonderful properties of sulphuric acid, and assured us that he had already chosen a "Mrs Badger"- women of Comber beware!!
We are just about to head for dinner and then our reflection/devotion/worship time as normal, followed im sure by a lot of sleep!!
Could i encourage everyone to leave comments for the team, all you have to do is sign up and comment away- i know it would mean a lot to the guys and ladies to hear from everyone from home!
We praise God for the protection and blessing he has given the team already, and we know this will continue as the week goes on
Until next time dear readers...
Mike McC (partially melted)
Fastest siever in India
Day two is done and dusted (its was mighty dusty!) We worked in two areas, the majority of the team working on moving a pile of around 3500 bricks from the road to the building site of one house, while 3 of us soldiered on with sieving huge quantities of sand for plastering in another house.
Prayers were answered today and it was a lot cooler in the morning (although Adam Stewart disagrees!) and the team got on great guns, hammering through both jobs at a good pace. After our morning juice break, the sun appeared and the heat really ramped up- for the sand sieving group it was relentless as they had no shade, while the brick movers soldiered on.
Lunch was a welcome reprieve for the group, exhaustion and heat affecting some team members- but nothing a good load of food and rest didnt fix! Dont worry mums- everyone is still eating well and the water consumption is being kept high, surprisingly the guys are looking after themselves!
The afternoon saw a good deal of work done, ending at 4 o'clock. The brick movers had shifted over 2500 bricks in only 5 hours, with the plan only allowing for half of that number!! Again, the BB team surpasses expectations and keeps a strong work ethic in place, without pushing ourselves too hard- i think anyone who tries to keep up with Roger will crumble quickly! (the man is a machine!!)
Johnny has also learned a great deal about the world, such as the fact that horses produce milk (despite him owning horses) and that squeezing a baked bean flat doesnt take the air out of it and stop you farting...that last one had us (and him) cracking up
The Ballyclare pair (Andrew and Adam) also kept their standards going by being late- sleep was needed apparently
And Stephen taught us all the wonderful properties of sulphuric acid, and assured us that he had already chosen a "Mrs Badger"- women of Comber beware!!
We are just about to head for dinner and then our reflection/devotion/worship time as normal, followed im sure by a lot of sleep!!
Could i encourage everyone to leave comments for the team, all you have to do is sign up and comment away- i know it would mean a lot to the guys and ladies to hear from everyone from home!
We praise God for the protection and blessing he has given the team already, and we know this will continue as the week goes on
Until next time dear readers...
Mike McC (partially melted)
Fastest siever in India
Monday 4 July 2011
1st Day on site
Hi everyone, we have just returned from our 1st day on site, it was fantastic the villagers are so friendly and grateful to see us, they put on a welcoming party and presented us with a garland of flowers. Everyone is settling in well and the food is great, although Chicken sausages for breakfast are a bit of a novility...
When we got to site this morning we where taking on a short tour of the village and told of the history and simple lives the people there lead, we also visited one of the three schools and also the rice fields where the people earn there living.
We are joined on the trip by a team from Rep of Ireland, they are here for 4 weeks and are doing just one week of building and then taking part in other programmes that Habitat has to offer including Disaster planning and mitigation.
We where working on two houses today, Michael, Lorna and Dale where siving sand to get ready for plastering at one of the semi detached houses and Glen and the others where placing large stones in the floors and covering in cement at another site of semi's.
Past team members will be glad to know our reputation has went before as the hard working teams from Boys' Brigade, and 2011 is no different, the floor team where just to place stones today but everyone worked so hard that we managed to get the cement in as well...
There was also a familar face onsite today, Sundar sporting his BB Team 2009 t-shirt, he has asked about so many of the past team members and sends his good wishes...
We hope to update again soon, feel free to leave your comments and we will pass them on to the team, we are having a refelection time each evening and also a short time of prayer each morning, we know there many out there praying for us and this is a great strength to all the team..
Glen
When we got to site this morning we where taking on a short tour of the village and told of the history and simple lives the people there lead, we also visited one of the three schools and also the rice fields where the people earn there living.
We are joined on the trip by a team from Rep of Ireland, they are here for 4 weeks and are doing just one week of building and then taking part in other programmes that Habitat has to offer including Disaster planning and mitigation.
We where working on two houses today, Michael, Lorna and Dale where siving sand to get ready for plastering at one of the semi detached houses and Glen and the others where placing large stones in the floors and covering in cement at another site of semi's.
Past team members will be glad to know our reputation has went before as the hard working teams from Boys' Brigade, and 2011 is no different, the floor team where just to place stones today but everyone worked so hard that we managed to get the cement in as well...
There was also a familar face onsite today, Sundar sporting his BB Team 2009 t-shirt, he has asked about so many of the past team members and sends his good wishes...
We hope to update again soon, feel free to leave your comments and we will pass them on to the team, we are having a refelection time each evening and also a short time of prayer each morning, we know there many out there praying for us and this is a great strength to all the team..
Glen
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