DR Journal Monday 7/15/2013 - Construction Team Update

Greetings from the sunny and tropical Dominican Republic .  Our first full day in the village of Catalina was super busy as the construction team sprang into action. Our major construction project is the Handfuls of Hope School building and the project is well underway. The foundation has been laid for the main school building, which will consist of five classrooms. The concrete floor is scheduled to be poured tomorrow but, before that can happen, the block foundation must be filled with dirt and tamped down to form a solid base for the concrete floor.

Truckload upon truckload of fill dirt was delivered to the site and our team worked tirelessly, shoveling, raking, and spreading the seemingly endless supply of dirt and rocks.  A front-end loader was supposed to be onsite but, due to mechanical  issues, the machine was not available, forcing the team to resort to plan B, moving tons of dirt and rocks by hand.

Finally, late in the day, we were able to arrange for a machine to be brought onsite and not a moment too soon as the hot sun had sapped our energy to the point where it seemed impossible to finish the job.

In the meantime, our carpentry team was busy preparing to start framing the walls of the new pre-school building which will consist of two classrooms and two bathrooms. As quickly as materials were delivered to the site, the team began cutting boards in preparation for assembly of the roof trusses. More updates to come...

Ahhh... Sean helps to cool Rob down a bit with a block of ice from the cooler