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