The first cabin is under roof now. With a very heavy rainy season hitting the eastern plains with a vengeance, it has been very difficult to work on the roof. Many days the workers would sit under the eaves and wait for the rains to stop. Something on many occasions they never did. As a result, the work on the first cabin has moved at a snail’s pace. But this past week, the final sections of the roof were put in place and the builders could work for the first time even when it was pouring down rain.
The next step is applying the stucco over the rough blocks used to build the walls of the cabin. That gives strength to the baked clay tile. That needs to be applied both inside and outside of the walls. Once that is done, then the electrical wiring will be installed in the conduit. The doors and windows will be installed as well. This will allow the tile to be applied to the walls in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. Finally, the floors will be laid and the outlets and switches will be connected.
There is still much work to do, but for the first time, the work can progress every day, regardless of the weather. The first cabin will not be finished by the end of next week as we had originally hoped. As a result, the workers will have to suspend their progress for the month of June as we will be hosting two work crews at the camp. It will be July before they can return in order to put the finishing touches on the first cabin and begin the foundations for the second cabin.
It has been frustrating at times as we had hoped to be applying the finishing touches about now. But The weather is beyond our control and we have worked as fast as the climatic conditions have permitted. It is because of realities such as this, as well as the financial limitations, that limits our building capacity to one or two cabins each year. Certain work crews will be able to get a lot done in a short period of time. But in the meantime, a roof over the first cabin means we have reached one of our major milestones in this project.
Celebrate this important step forward with us! One of the best ways to celebrate what we have accomplished together is to praise God and to make a special donation for this project so that it can move forward as fast as the weather permits. Certainly, if there had not been any budgetary limitations, we could have moved faster during the remainder of the dry season when we had no problems. So help us avoid such delays in the future by giving a generous love offering for this project so that we can take the best advantage of our most favorable times of the year for building.