Hello, dearest friends! It's been a little while since we've last met, and I'm eager to share all about our Jamaican adventures. So much happened in such a short amount of time; I'm so glad I journaled because I know I've already begun to forget the little things.
We began our journey on Saturday, June 25th, and drove to KC where we checked in for a mere five hours of sleep at the Holiday Inn. (Side note: Holiday Inn/Hampton Inn always has the best beds! Even a few hours is worth it.) Sunday started with a 3am wake-up call, a not-so-lovely wake-up call, might I add. Ugh. We flew from KC to Atlanta, to Montego Bay, then took a bus from Montego Bay to Harmons. The flights were smooth and pleasant; customs and the 3 hour mountain bus ride, not so much. I think dealing with the Jamaican customs agent that did NOT want to allow one of our girls into the country ranks up there with one of my most intense/scary experiences of my life. Thankfully, by the grace of God, the agent finally relented. When I say "by the grace of God," I mean it with every fiber of my being. No words or explanations that I had came anywhere close to satisfying his perpetual interrogation. All I could do was pray.
Sunday night when we arrived in Harmons, we had a Jamaican dinner of patties (basically like beefy hot pockets with thinner crust) and soup (yes, soup in June!). We quickly transitioned into a brief orientation and then an unpacking party in which we sorted all of the donations that our teams had packed. By the time bed time rolled around, we basically qualified as the walking dead. I'm not sure that I've ever slept as heavy as I did in a foreign place as I did that night.
Monday began with a walking tour of Harmons in the morning, followed by an afternoon of working. Our work site assignments varied each day. Basically, we spent the week building two complete houses, pouring two foundations for the next teams to build on, digging a pit for a family to have a septic system installed, and hauling maul.
Oh, hauling maul.... Maul is limestone that is used to mix with concrete and sand to make the walls of the houses we build. Before a house can be built, the foundation has to be poured. But before the foundation can be poured, the ingredients for the foundation have to be in the appropriate place for mixing and building. Jamaica does not have all the technology that America has. There are no concrete trucks. There are, however, dump trucks, dump trucks that haul the maul as far up the mountain as possible. But humans, ie our team members, are used to haul the maul the rest of the way up the mountain. So, we formed a human assembly line up the mountain and shoveled maul into bags to pass up the mountain, dump at the top, then send back down to be refilled. Picture a steep hill. Now make it steeper, add large rocks, several twists and turns, a few nearly vertical points, and figure in the Caribbean sun, and you've got yourself a tough day. Bottom line: hauling maul is not for the faint of heart. I was so proud of our team; they worked so hard and accomplished every bit of what we set out to do. And they complained very little. :)
Building houses was a really cool process. It was nothing like building a house in America, short of the basic concept (foundation, frame, walls, roof, etc.). The walls were styrofoam caged by wire grids that we stood between the rebar protruding from the foundation and then secured with wire twist ties. After the walls were upright and stable, we mixed concrete-by hand-, and lathered it on the styrofoam until the walls were as thick as the window frames were deep. This was a lengthy and potentially frustrating process, especially if the temperature wasn't high enough for the concrete to stick. After the initial layer of concrete, we leveled the walls and then began the second layer. The second layer was applied through a super scientific method called "flinging." Basically, you gather the putty (concrete, sand, and maul mixture) on your trowel and fling it on the wall. Easier said than done. Really, flinging is more of an art than method. (This is funny for those who have attempted flinging and been unsuccessful during any part of the endeavor.) After the second layer dries, the third layer is applied. Throughout the process of applying the third layer of concrete, "rubbing" occurs. "Rubbing" requires smoothing the walls with a smoothing tool until there are no holes or uneven portions of the wall. Maybe it was my attention to detail, or maybe it was just sheer determination, but I got to be super good at rubbing. In fact, Bigga, my Jamaican supervisor for the day, complimented me by calling me a Jamaican and saying that I was "A mason, mon!" I do not take this compliment lightly, as the Jamaicans are the hardest workers I've ever met and also quite concerned with detail and quality too.
That's quite a technical, detailed account of our work projects for the week. If you made it through all of that, bless you.
Rest assured, although I just spent nearly 30 minutes pounding out the physical details of our projects, there are many spiritual details to share as well. However, they will have to be saved for another post, as this girl is super sleepy.
I'll end out with a few of my fave pics from the week.
Expect more Jamaican details in posts to come. For now, that's all she wrote, folks. Thank you, so very much, for all of your prayers for our team! It was most definitely a successful trip!
xoxo
gosh you guys sure worked hard! This exhausted me to read about all the physical labor! How was the heat combined with the work..?? Looks like a wonderful trip full of good memories.
ReplyDeleteOur team worked so hard; I was so proud of them! It was definitely hot, but honestly, not nearly as hot as it's been here the last couple of days. Sheesh!
ReplyDeletePlease tell Weston thanks for all of his sweet prayers. I know they made a difference. And thank you, again, too for all of your prayers and help in preparing us physically. I had numerous students (and adults) tell me at different times that they were glad we trained them so hard! Good work, lady! :)