We are exhausted both mentally and physically! Dawuda, the mason came this morning. We thought that he was coming to discuss the project and to talk about the price but when he showed up this morning he was not alone. He brought a couple guys with him and they thought they were ready to work. We started hauling stuff down to the job site including the piece of plywood that we had drawn the design we were going to use to lay out the foundation of the training center. The building is going to be octagon shaped. We used a sheet of plywood and drew lines from corner to corner and center to center. Then we drilled a hole in the center large enough for a piece of rebar to be put through as a means of knowing where the center was and to secure the plywood to the ground. We then cut a piece of rope 26 feet long to use as our straight line to know where each of the eight pillars was to set. We got it all set up for the diggers and then left them to their work. An hour or so later Dawda came to the mission house and asked for a square. He had called a “Master” mason and he wanted to start over by starting with a square and cutting off the corners. After much ta-do about nothing they laid out another octagon shape. It was past noon when they finally started digging the footer; all along the way we were figuring and refiguring trying to get everything right. Then the question of how tall the foundation of the building was going to be. We were determined that the building was only going to be a couple cement blocks high so that it would be wheelchair accessible. The Ghanaians love a tall building with steps because they think it looks grander! The masons and the carpenter threw out every excuse they could think of to get us to make a taller building with steps but we did not give in. Ha!
Red stopped by this afternoon to let us know that he had finished the rebar frames that will go inside the cement pillars. He thought that the mason might need them tomorrow but I doubt it.
Abochi, the carpenter /roofer came by to answer a couple questions we had about the front porch. We think the building will look better with a front and a back porch but we did not know how much adding a back porch would add to the cost of the project and we also had questions about the pillars.
I lost track of how many trips we made to the back of the property today. The master mason had to leave for a little while to pick up his little boy from school. I walked back to the mission house to get some candy and chewing gum for the little guy; he was about 4 years old. I also got him a few matchbox cars; he was very pleased with his gift.
We are going to try to have an early night so we can start this all over again tomorrow! Ha!
In HIS Service,
Steve and Kandie
