Francisco told me we needed these three weeks to get everything set up… not quite sure that we really did… (we ended up putting up some of the walls ourselves)… but I think that he wanted work for those weeks, and it did help us to get a lot done while the volunteers were here. Here is the update on the clinic: we now have all the interior walls for the clinic part of the clinic (the dental clinic and classroom are another building) up… and well almost completed. We used this stuff called triditec to make the walls. Francisco really, really wanted to use this material and the architect didn´t think it was such a great idea. So, well I had to choose and the architect wasn´t getting back to me when I called her… so finally I just trusted Francisco and went with his choice. I figure I have to work closer with Francisco than I do with Monica the architect… so I probably shouldn´t make him upset. Plus we went through the budget and he assured me this material would be the same price as block, and would be a lot faster. Well it deffinitely was faster! So yeah we put all the walls up… (the material are 4×8 styrofoam sheets covered on both side with a gride of gate like metal). Once those are up and secured to the walls and foundation with lots of rebar, you just have to plumb the walls and then put up about 3 layers of cement. We had a bit of trouble with throwing the concrete at the wall like we were supposed to do to get it to stick… but we eventually figured out a method that worked for us. So yeah now we have some interior walls which make up the three exam rooms and the pharmacy. The rest of the space in this building is the intake, vitals, and waiting area for the clinic. And this area can be rearranged to be a place for presentations, classes, etc. And we are actually using the clinic on Tuesday for a capacitacion (training-class) for family planning for women.
So with the next group that comes at the beginning of July, we are going to finish up the concrete-stucco layers on the walls, and put up the cieling– right now there are just rafters and the tin roof… and it makes it really hot in the clinic… though strangly it is never really that hot outside. And then… hopefully with the team in August we will be putting in the floor!!!! I cannot even say how excited I am about putting a floor in the clinic!!! Right now all we have is a dirt floor… and it is a mess!!! There is always dirt and mud and dust everywhere!!!! Then the groups in the fall will do some finishing stuff on the clinic such as painting, putting in cabinets, moving the door, stuccoing and painting the outside…. and THEN… on to the construction of the two story dental clinic and community classroom!!!
But it was so fun having Jimmy, Ash, and Holly here working with me. They worked super hard and got so much done. We stayed in my little room in my apartment, and we rented the room next to me for a week. We cooked our dinners on the little hotplate that I have… yeah that deffinitely takes a while when you are cooking for 4 persons, and you can only cook or heat up one thing at a time… but it all worked out. I made some choco bannanas for the them as a nice little treat after work (cause I didn´t want to buy them from the tienda and get them sick)… but I think they made me sick! The night before they came I cooked the chocobanana chocolate stuff and dipped the little bananas… and well of course I had to eat some of the chocolate sauce while I was making it… it made me feel a bit ill… and the next morning when I woke up to go get the kids at the airport in the city… I felt like death… again. Pretty much everyweek I have a little relapse of girrardia… for a couple months. I had even taken the really hard antibiotic stuff this time which kills everything in your system (and which made me even sicker) and I thought it had gotten rid of all of them… but no, no I think the choco sugar stuff revived those little parasites. So I felt like death for a couple days… that incredibly curvy bumpy ride to and from the airport was a nice addition to. But I took some more of that crazy antibiotic stuff and well after a day of feeling the worst I ever have… I was ready to start work with the group on Monday!
Yeah work went well (well Francisco didn´t show up for work on Monday morning… and we deffinitely had some words and he almost quit, and I almost fired him, and yeah then Jimmy was mad at him cause he thinks Francisco is taking advantage of me…. etc. etc…. so yeah it was kind of heated there for a while… but we talked the other day and I think we got it all figured out… Francisco keeps telling me that I am strict and he doesn´t like working like this… um because I expect him to be at work when we have a group… and cause I tell him that I need reciepts for everything to be accountable for our budget… I don´t really think I am strict… actually I am quite a pushover. Usually when we are not agreeing with something… he just talks it to death… like hours and hours of him talking and me nodding my head, and lots of times I just give in cause I can´t take it anymore!!!) But anyways it is once again all better now… and he is all ready to start work preparing for the next group!
But thanks to Jimmy, Ashley, and Holly, and money donated from some people at St. Andrew, and my parents… we now have interior walls!!!! Yipee!!!
Woo so we had the first construction team a couple weeks ago–the last week of May. The team consisted of Ashley, Jimmy (my sibblings), Holly (Ash´s friend), and ME! We were small but mighty! We had a couple of additional volunteers some days… and of course our Albañil, Francisco. Francisco and I worked for three weeks before the group even came… to prepare for the team. It was hard work just the two of us… we were doing foundation stuff and putting up walls. I think my favorite part was carrying 5 100 pound bags of cement across the soccer field and into the clinic. (There are no roads that go to the clinic only little dirt paths… so we have to carry all of our materials across the soccer field (it is walled in by concrete blocks). Not only do we have to go all over San Juan and other towns to get the materials, we then have to either carry them through the streets of San Juan, or if we are lucky enough to get them delivered, we have to carry them across the field!!!
