We have finished the majority of the construction!
I apologize for the delay in getting an update - our internet has been down and we have been woring with a group from Kansas.
I will post pictures soon and I am confident that everyone will be pleased with the new building.
We are already scheduling women's classes for the coming weeks and the center for showers and washing clothes will be up and running in the coming days. The whole community is very excited about the way that this facility will change lives.
I will post pictures and more within a couple of days.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
End In Sight
We are closing on the end of the construction phase of this project. Great things are continuing to happen that will benefit the community.
Because of a friend that is a congressman, we were able to get a little bit of media attention on Thursday. My friend the congressman helped to get local television and news to the community to cover the delivery of a truck load of school supplies. We recently recieved a shipment of school supplies and the school in Oriente was robbed last week - so the supplies were a blessing and newsworthy. (the politico's helped pay for the shipment). All this said, when we finished at the school, I invited the 3 congressmen and several community officials to view the project. While they were all there, I was able to secure the agreement of the Municipality of Tegucigalpa to supply our water needs for FREE - my favorite price.
As of today, we are going to prepare the building for a roof - which will be instaled on Monday and Tuesday. We will be putting in the septic and water tanks on those days as well. Tomorrow the upstairs door and windows will be installed. We should have the tile ready to go and installed by Thursday and all work finished by Friday.
Thank you Lord!
Marc
Because of a friend that is a congressman, we were able to get a little bit of media attention on Thursday. My friend the congressman helped to get local television and news to the community to cover the delivery of a truck load of school supplies. We recently recieved a shipment of school supplies and the school in Oriente was robbed last week - so the supplies were a blessing and newsworthy. (the politico's helped pay for the shipment). All this said, when we finished at the school, I invited the 3 congressmen and several community officials to view the project. While they were all there, I was able to secure the agreement of the Municipality of Tegucigalpa to supply our water needs for FREE - my favorite price.
As of today, we are going to prepare the building for a roof - which will be instaled on Monday and Tuesday. We will be putting in the septic and water tanks on those days as well. Tomorrow the upstairs door and windows will be installed. We should have the tile ready to go and installed by Thursday and all work finished by Friday.
Thank you Lord!
Marc
Monday, May 19, 2008
Photo Update
Here are some more current photos.
The downstairs is close to completion. We will finsh all floor work tomorrow and will install toilets and pilas by the end of the week. One of the great things about a hard working crew is that we can work on the top floor at the same time that we are completing the bottom. This has enabled us to plan to put on a roof on Friday and Saturday of this week.
All is on track to finish early next week.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Saturday, May 17, 2008
A Week Away
I have been in the USA for the past week (two kids graduating from Harding) - thus the name of today's report. While I have been away, work has continued and much progress has been made. I will be on site tomorrow to take pictures and get a better understanding of the work remaining. In my conversations with the crew, it appears that most of the bottom floor work is complete. The stairs are finished. The walls for the second floor are up and we will be getting a roof up this early next week. From there we will be finishing the second story floor with tile, installing the septic system and the water tower. The end of construction is in sight!
Please watch for pictures.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Please watch for pictures.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Moving Along
Waiting for the second floor to dry and cure has given us an opportunity to do a bunch inside of the bottom floor. Over the past couple of days we have done a great deal of the plumbing, worked to raise the level of the floor, and started blocking in the bathrooms. Outside we have build the form and are ready to pour the stairway. By the end of this week we will be well on our way to having the first floor completed. Early next week we will be blocking in the second floor and will be ready to put on a roof. Our plan is to finish most of the project by somewhere around May 24th.
The community is very excited about our work and our progress and we hope to deliver a place where lives will be changed. Tonight or whenever you read this, please say a prayer for this little community. There are a lot of things that are severly impacting the lives of the people that live in Oriente. Food prices lead the list. In just a few months most of the everyday foods that are so very important here have gone up in price - significantly. For instance, eggs are up more than 50% in the past year, beans have doubled (or more), rice is crazy and still going up, corn is being made into fuel instead of tortillas and the cost is through the roof for people that survive on tortillas. On top of food prices, fuel prices are driving the cost of everything else up. Because of the crazy way that this country buys fuel, there is a sever shortage of diesel and that is keeping the water delivery trucks from making it into this community. Today there was only one water delivery (compared to a normal 5 or 6) for the whole community. People everywhere were looking for water today.
Even with all the problems that face this little community, the people are always smiling and happy to spend time with friends, family, and others. I would encourage any of you to come to visit us to meet the people that I have grown to love.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
The community is very excited about our work and our progress and we hope to deliver a place where lives will be changed. Tonight or whenever you read this, please say a prayer for this little community. There are a lot of things that are severly impacting the lives of the people that live in Oriente. Food prices lead the list. In just a few months most of the everyday foods that are so very important here have gone up in price - significantly. For instance, eggs are up more than 50% in the past year, beans have doubled (or more), rice is crazy and still going up, corn is being made into fuel instead of tortillas and the cost is through the roof for people that survive on tortillas. On top of food prices, fuel prices are driving the cost of everything else up. Because of the crazy way that this country buys fuel, there is a sever shortage of diesel and that is keeping the water delivery trucks from making it into this community. Today there was only one water delivery (compared to a normal 5 or 6) for the whole community. People everywhere were looking for water today.
Even with all the problems that face this little community, the people are always smiling and happy to spend time with friends, family, and others. I would encourage any of you to come to visit us to meet the people that I have grown to love.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Floor!
Today we finished three weeks of work and we poured the floor for the second story.
I am sore. We "Hondo" mixed enough cement to pour a 2.5 inch deep floor - 10 feet above the ground. Hondo mixed concrete is done on the ground. You start with 2 wheelbarrows of sand, add one wheel barrow of gravel, then throw on a 100 pound of cement. You then mix all of the pile up into a small mountain. Then we make a volcano and add water to the middle portion. Normally we only mix one bag at a time however, in order to make enough for the floor, we mixed two piles of 4 bags each. We had also added 7 extra men to our crew today so that we could get this job done without going to see Jesus (in person) today. Even with 12 people working, we were all pretty much toasted from this job. It is done!
Next we will begin the finish work on the bottom floor. This will prepare the area with plumbing, electricity, etc. This work will give us about 3 days for the new concrete to dry and begin to cure.
All in all, we expect to be laying block on the second story by the end of this week. This should put us in a position to close in the project by the end of next week. Stay tuned!
Well, it is almost 10:PM here and I'm tired. I will get you another update in a day or two.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
I am sore. We "Hondo" mixed enough cement to pour a 2.5 inch deep floor - 10 feet above the ground. Hondo mixed concrete is done on the ground. You start with 2 wheelbarrows of sand, add one wheel barrow of gravel, then throw on a 100 pound of cement. You then mix all of the pile up into a small mountain. Then we make a volcano and add water to the middle portion. Normally we only mix one bag at a time however, in order to make enough for the floor, we mixed two piles of 4 bags each. We had also added 7 extra men to our crew today so that we could get this job done without going to see Jesus (in person) today. Even with 12 people working, we were all pretty much toasted from this job. It is done!
Next we will begin the finish work on the bottom floor. This will prepare the area with plumbing, electricity, etc. This work will give us about 3 days for the new concrete to dry and begin to cure.
All in all, we expect to be laying block on the second story by the end of this week. This should put us in a position to close in the project by the end of next week. Stay tuned!
Well, it is almost 10:PM here and I'm tired. I will get you another update in a day or two.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Moving Into Week 3
All is well as we have begun week three of construction. All of the bottom floor walls and supports are now complete and we have begun the prep work for building the floor portion of the second level. Here we will build in metal beams as the initial support. We will place metal sheeting on top of the beams and then add in re-bar and 2.5 inches of concrete. All of this will take the balance of this week and part of next week. Our plan is to begin the floor pour on Friday. Mixing and hauling the concrete in buckets will take a total of 10 people working from 7 am to 4 pm. For those of you interested, the total cost of the 10 workers labor will be about $100. (minimum wage for a day is $3.50 so we are paying very well compared to many other places).
We have a target of finishing all of the major work three weeks from today. From there we will be doing detail work for a week or so and then we can dedicate this work to the community and to our amazing God.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
Friday, April 25, 2008
Finally - Pictures
I finally had the courage to fire up my laptop and the rain didn't kill it! The last time I had rain in my computer it was out of comission for about 4 months. I left it to dry out for 10 days this time and all is well. Anyway, we continue to make great progress. We plan to finish the bottom floor walls by noon on Saturday. As you can see in the photos, construction here is quite different than in the states. Here we build the outside of the building and take care of the floors later. I believe that this must have started so that people could live in a place with a roof over their heads while they continued to work on the inside of their homes.
Here are the pics - or at least you can see them above.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Great Days and Work
We have now completed the second day of our second week of work. Already we know that we have an amazing team of workers. The team that really just appeared from the neighborhood is a non stop happy group of workers. Our youngest worker is Jorge - about 15. Today I saw Jorge carrying two buckets of concrete at once - each weighing about 90 pounds and Jorge only weighs about 100 pounds. This was at the end of the day when we had already moved 500 blocks that weigh about 20 pounds each.
The next amazing worker is Edison - about 16 years old. Edison is also our night watch man - he sleeps inside the church building where we store our tools. Edison can move more sand and gravel with a shovel - faster than enyone that I have ever seen.
Next is Omar - about 17 years old. Omar is so consistent and he never seems to want to take a break. Omar starts and finishes every day with a smile and a thank you for the job. I have known Omar for about 4 years and he has helped us build more than 50 houses in his community. He is a new Christian and a new dad. He is working to take care of his family.
Henry is like a cartoon character - The Tasmanian Devil - only in a good way. He mostly works barefooted and runs everywhere. He always smiles and never stops working.
Our oldest worker is Gonzolov- likely in his 50's. The other guys on the team really respect the work and knowledge of Gonzolo so much that they call him "Teacher". We are blessed to have this man on our crew. I found out today that the house where Gonzolo lives isn't his. He doesn't have a house so he is renting space from another family. He has a piece of land so, when we are finished with this project, we are going to try to raise enough money to get Gonzolo his own house.
Updating our progress - at 10:20 this morning we laid the first block. By the end of the day one wall was just about to the first floor roof - and another was about 4 foot tall. We expect to have the first floor walls finished by next Monday. It will likely take the balance of next week to pour the floor for the second story. Progress is still ahead of schedule and we are targeting a completion before the end of May.
Thanks to everyone that is supporting this project. It is really going to change lives. As a matter of fact, today I met a person that is so excited about this work that she is going to send teachers to the center to teach women to make floral arrangements, straw dolls, and pinatas. All of these will be things that they can use to help their families to eat and survive.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
The next amazing worker is Edison - about 16 years old. Edison is also our night watch man - he sleeps inside the church building where we store our tools. Edison can move more sand and gravel with a shovel - faster than enyone that I have ever seen.
Next is Omar - about 17 years old. Omar is so consistent and he never seems to want to take a break. Omar starts and finishes every day with a smile and a thank you for the job. I have known Omar for about 4 years and he has helped us build more than 50 houses in his community. He is a new Christian and a new dad. He is working to take care of his family.
Henry is like a cartoon character - The Tasmanian Devil - only in a good way. He mostly works barefooted and runs everywhere. He always smiles and never stops working.
Our oldest worker is Gonzolov- likely in his 50's. The other guys on the team really respect the work and knowledge of Gonzolo so much that they call him "Teacher". We are blessed to have this man on our crew. I found out today that the house where Gonzolo lives isn't his. He doesn't have a house so he is renting space from another family. He has a piece of land so, when we are finished with this project, we are going to try to raise enough money to get Gonzolo his own house.
Updating our progress - at 10:20 this morning we laid the first block. By the end of the day one wall was just about to the first floor roof - and another was about 4 foot tall. We expect to have the first floor walls finished by next Monday. It will likely take the balance of next week to pour the floor for the second story. Progress is still ahead of schedule and we are targeting a completion before the end of May.
Thanks to everyone that is supporting this project. It is really going to change lives. As a matter of fact, today I met a person that is so excited about this work that she is going to send teachers to the center to teach women to make floral arrangements, straw dolls, and pinatas. All of these will be things that they can use to help their families to eat and survive.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Construction Day 3
The past two days have worked as well as they possibly could. Today in particular had the potential to have been a tough day to work. The food and fuel inflation here has really hurt a lot of people so there was a national strike today - we left our house shortly after 6 hoping to avoid the mess and we were able to get to the work site before the roads were closed.
As of this evening, we have completed the footer digging, we have built the rebar towers and put 4 of the 8 in place, we have started pouring corner support concrete. It looks like we will complete the pouring of all footers by sometime on Saturday and this will put us about a week ahead of the original plan. All of this is possible because we have some incredible workers - all of them from the community where we are working. Everyone of our workers is not afraid to work hard and the work associated with building in Honduras is very hard work. Everything that we do is manual. all of our digging and rock breaking is done with picks, shovels, and bars. All of the rebar is cut with hacksaws and pieced together by hand. We don't have any power tools or nail guns. Hard work is the answer to getting this job done.
The community and the church is very excited about what we are working toward. I can't wait to see the faces as this building begins to take shape. That will start happening next week as we plan to start laying block on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I promise pictures over the weekend. I am going to try my laptop on Sunday and hopefully it will be dried out from the rain and will work again.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc Tindall
As of this evening, we have completed the footer digging, we have built the rebar towers and put 4 of the 8 in place, we have started pouring corner support concrete. It looks like we will complete the pouring of all footers by sometime on Saturday and this will put us about a week ahead of the original plan. All of this is possible because we have some incredible workers - all of them from the community where we are working. Everyone of our workers is not afraid to work hard and the work associated with building in Honduras is very hard work. Everything that we do is manual. all of our digging and rock breaking is done with picks, shovels, and bars. All of the rebar is cut with hacksaws and pieced together by hand. We don't have any power tools or nail guns. Hard work is the answer to getting this job done.
The community and the church is very excited about what we are working toward. I can't wait to see the faces as this building begins to take shape. That will start happening next week as we plan to start laying block on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I promise pictures over the weekend. I am going to try my laptop on Sunday and hopefully it will be dried out from the rain and will work again.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc Tindall
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Construction Day 1
April 15th began in the same way most April 15th's have begun for the past several years. My wife and I were in a scramble to get everything done and in for our taxes. This year however was a little different as we are in Honduras so we had no way to get an April 15th postmark. Technology is good here so we were able to scan our stuff and get it to the right place on time.
Once taxes were done we were able to head out to DAY 1 of the Oriente project. Our plan was to get the site plotted out and hopefully begin some of the footer work. Our day however ended much better than we could have imagined. We were able to get on site by a little after 9 and the initial work went much faster than we had anticipated. By the end of today we - along with our crew of about 5 neighborhood men and a couple of men here from Indiana - were able to dig about 75% of the footers. We are digging footers that are about 2 foot wide and 40 inches deep. There is a lot of rock but, it is fairly soft and we are able to utilize the pick axes to move right through it.
Today we are about 2 to 3 days ahead of our original projections. We have already ordered rock (for the footer fill) sand, and gravel so that we can be prepared to start the concrete work no later than Thursday of this week. Additionally, today we were able to visit the block plant that is close to the neighborhood. It really looks good that we will be laying block early next week - possibly as soon as Tuesday.
The whole neighborhood is really excited about what is happening. Lots of questions about the building and the project. This is exciting.
Before I close out, I wanted to let you know of a potential plan for the project that will help us conserve water. It looks like we will be working toward funneling the grey water from the showers into a storage tank so that we can re-use it in the toilets. The incremental work should fit in the original budget and the recycle of shower water will save tons of valuable water. I will keep you posted on this idea.
Well, I hope to post some pictures within a day or two. The computer that I am using isn't quite as easy to use as my laptop. Currently my laptop is in the closet drying out - my roof leaked and my laptop was in the drip zone. Hopefully it will work when I turn it on - 5 more days should do it! (I hope)
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Once taxes were done we were able to head out to DAY 1 of the Oriente project. Our plan was to get the site plotted out and hopefully begin some of the footer work. Our day however ended much better than we could have imagined. We were able to get on site by a little after 9 and the initial work went much faster than we had anticipated. By the end of today we - along with our crew of about 5 neighborhood men and a couple of men here from Indiana - were able to dig about 75% of the footers. We are digging footers that are about 2 foot wide and 40 inches deep. There is a lot of rock but, it is fairly soft and we are able to utilize the pick axes to move right through it.
Today we are about 2 to 3 days ahead of our original projections. We have already ordered rock (for the footer fill) sand, and gravel so that we can be prepared to start the concrete work no later than Thursday of this week. Additionally, today we were able to visit the block plant that is close to the neighborhood. It really looks good that we will be laying block early next week - possibly as soon as Tuesday.
The whole neighborhood is really excited about what is happening. Lots of questions about the building and the project. This is exciting.
Before I close out, I wanted to let you know of a potential plan for the project that will help us conserve water. It looks like we will be working toward funneling the grey water from the showers into a storage tank so that we can re-use it in the toilets. The incremental work should fit in the original budget and the recycle of shower water will save tons of valuable water. I will keep you posted on this idea.
Well, I hope to post some pictures within a day or two. The computer that I am using isn't quite as easy to use as my laptop. Currently my laptop is in the closet drying out - my roof leaked and my laptop was in the drip zone. Hopefully it will work when I turn it on - 5 more days should do it! (I hope)
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Oriente
In Spanish, Oriente means "to the east".
Mirador Oriente and Nueva Oriental are two conecting communities on the same mountain. The first time I was on this mountain was 4 years ago and it was a new settlement of "squatter homes". My first visit to this mountain was emotional because it was definately the poorest place that I had ever personally visited. I was at a loss for words and my tears gave away my feelings.
A lot has changed on the mountain in the last 4 years. There is a feeding center where over 200 kids get a hot meal 5 days a week. Our groups were blessed to build 4 classrooms for grades 1-6. This year a kindergarten was added. There are tons of new Christians in the communities and last year a meeting place and Sunday School classes were built (both are full every Sunday). Just this year, electricity was brought to the mountain and now people can have a light or two in their meager houses.
Some things haven't changed in the past 4 years. There are probably more "bad" houses on the mountain now than there were four years ago. More people have moved to the mountain without enough resources to build a decent house. People are still hungry. It is still one of the poorest places that I know of. Water is a problem - because there isn't a steady supply. Sanitation is a problem.
Some of this is about to change!
In mid-April we plan to start construction on Centre de Mujeres y Familias. This center will be the start of changed lives. It will be a two story - block and concrete construction - facility that will have showers and restrooms on the bottom floor and a center for women on the top floor. The top floor will be used for teaching skills and for Bible studies. It will also include a sewing center where women can learn to sew and use the machines for their families.
There is also a plan to help supply water to the community through a "well project" - additionally, there is another project under development to add a purification system to the water supplied by the well.
All of this has come together in just the past few months. Our God has revealed His plan and we are blessed to be a part of it.
I plan to keep this BLOG updated as we progress through the work in Oriente. I will include pictures and will be happy to respond to any questions. Feel free to come on down to get your hands dirty.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc Tindall
Mirador Oriente and Nueva Oriental are two conecting communities on the same mountain. The first time I was on this mountain was 4 years ago and it was a new settlement of "squatter homes". My first visit to this mountain was emotional because it was definately the poorest place that I had ever personally visited. I was at a loss for words and my tears gave away my feelings.
A lot has changed on the mountain in the last 4 years. There is a feeding center where over 200 kids get a hot meal 5 days a week. Our groups were blessed to build 4 classrooms for grades 1-6. This year a kindergarten was added. There are tons of new Christians in the communities and last year a meeting place and Sunday School classes were built (both are full every Sunday). Just this year, electricity was brought to the mountain and now people can have a light or two in their meager houses.
Some things haven't changed in the past 4 years. There are probably more "bad" houses on the mountain now than there were four years ago. More people have moved to the mountain without enough resources to build a decent house. People are still hungry. It is still one of the poorest places that I know of. Water is a problem - because there isn't a steady supply. Sanitation is a problem.
Some of this is about to change!
In mid-April we plan to start construction on Centre de Mujeres y Familias. This center will be the start of changed lives. It will be a two story - block and concrete construction - facility that will have showers and restrooms on the bottom floor and a center for women on the top floor. The top floor will be used for teaching skills and for Bible studies. It will also include a sewing center where women can learn to sew and use the machines for their families.
There is also a plan to help supply water to the community through a "well project" - additionally, there is another project under development to add a purification system to the water supplied by the well.
All of this has come together in just the past few months. Our God has revealed His plan and we are blessed to be a part of it.
I plan to keep this BLOG updated as we progress through the work in Oriente. I will include pictures and will be happy to respond to any questions. Feel free to come on down to get your hands dirty.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc Tindall
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