Last night Peter, David and I sat down to assess the schedule for the building. While we are not behind time we are concerned that the energy levels of the boys have started to decline (understandably) after 5 days of building. So rather than running ourselves into the ground and then not having an opportunity to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labours, before we have to return to Australia. We have decided to reorganise our dates. The reality of our preposed break to Villa Escordaro is that it will be a 5-hour bus trip each way. This means that a 2-day holiday ends up being 1 when you take out travel. So we have decided to cancel this trip as the building is our number 1 priority and if time is up our sleave at the end of the building being complete we will look into doing a more local trip.
When we pitched our intentions to the boys at our meeting last night they understood and agreed with our rational.
Today we met the Children at a Resort at 8.30. It had three pools of varying sizes, with slides. The TMMR kids were so excited as this is a very special treat for them. The Aussie boys were just as excited, because they were not working this morning, and there were slides to be ridden, and young kids to entertain.
For a few hours Chaos reigned. 24 kids screaming and laughing and taking over the slides in the big pool. Some of the TMMR kids were decked out in floaties, with varying degrees of ability. That didn’t stop them joining the Aussies on the slides. It was a joy to watch the boys encouraging these frightened kids down the slides and catching them as they hit the water, or holding them carefully as they slid down together, in twos, threes and fours. After a while the TMMR kids were overtaking our boys on the stairs and sliding down unaccompanied much to everyone’s delight. By the time we left, we had one little boy (Christian) in tears as he saw the resort fade into the distance.
It was lovely to see to boys look after the children, making sure they were having fun and also felt safe. Pip, David and Margie ran swimming lessons, trying to teach the children some of the basics. Pip noted that Australian children pick up swimming easier as they have from an early age been used to having they head under water, were as the children have not and therefore struggle. The boys introduced the children and the locals the concert of the whirlpool in the hexagonal 5o cm deep pool, they were very efficient at their goal but I’m not sure what the children made of it? It was a great morning for us and for the children
Back to TMMR, just in time for lunch and then, back to cladding. The thought was daunting however; within a few minutes we had all hands on deck. It was a great work environment with everyone applying themselves to the tasks at hand. We almost completed the cladding and have painted three coats on the exterior of half the building.
The boys are maintaining their respect for the hammer. Necessity is the mother of invention; therefore the challenge was given to design a way to protect your thumb from the inevitable thwack. The boys soon learnt that leather; foam, plastic and packing are no match for the metal face of a hammer. After Craig and Matt M split their thumbs open, the ultimate solution was found, to use pliers to hold the nails so the thumb is four inches away from the impact zone. You have to realise that in the external cladding there are over 700 nails and all required about 7 hits to break through the Masonite and then 3 to hit it into the frame. All are hammered in by hand. That is 7000 opportunities to hit your thumb. “If you ain’t bleeding, you’ve been bludging.”
The aim of this afternoon was to finalise all our unfinished tasks: the roof, the cladding and to clean the site ready for the internal fit out. I am pleased to say that we achieved all of this by 4 and had a well-deserved early mark. Tomorrow is an action packed day, sister Joanne’s final vows, shopping and basketball & dinner at Sister Gavy’s school.
Margie & Craig Jeffery
P.S. Thanks to all who’ve managed to write a comment on the blog. The boys love hearing from you and their faces light up when they hear from you.
Hi All,
Big shout out to my little brother Mark, who turned 13 on Wednesday,
Thanks to dad for the timing belt, and Mum and Claire, I miss you both heaps.
Happy birthday little man, I’ll see you all soon.
Tim Woodhouse
Hey everyone
We are all stupidly tired, this project is pushing us all to our limits but the happiness we all see in the kids makes it all worthwhile.
Looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back!
Love Tom Hill
Hello to all
It’s been a tough couple of days, but one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It’s amazing how quickly the building is being made before our eyes. Miss u all the family. By the way, you are allowed to write back, mum.
Andrew Connell
Hello family,
BOOYA.
From your loving son chris
When we pitched our intentions to the boys at our meeting last night they understood and agreed with our rational.
Today we met the Children at a Resort at 8.30. It had three pools of varying sizes, with slides. The TMMR kids were so excited as this is a very special treat for them. The Aussie boys were just as excited, because they were not working this morning, and there were slides to be ridden, and young kids to entertain.
For a few hours Chaos reigned. 24 kids screaming and laughing and taking over the slides in the big pool. Some of the TMMR kids were decked out in floaties, with varying degrees of ability. That didn’t stop them joining the Aussies on the slides. It was a joy to watch the boys encouraging these frightened kids down the slides and catching them as they hit the water, or holding them carefully as they slid down together, in twos, threes and fours. After a while the TMMR kids were overtaking our boys on the stairs and sliding down unaccompanied much to everyone’s delight. By the time we left, we had one little boy (Christian) in tears as he saw the resort fade into the distance.
It was lovely to see to boys look after the children, making sure they were having fun and also felt safe. Pip, David and Margie ran swimming lessons, trying to teach the children some of the basics. Pip noted that Australian children pick up swimming easier as they have from an early age been used to having they head under water, were as the children have not and therefore struggle. The boys introduced the children and the locals the concert of the whirlpool in the hexagonal 5o cm deep pool, they were very efficient at their goal but I’m not sure what the children made of it? It was a great morning for us and for the children
Back to TMMR, just in time for lunch and then, back to cladding. The thought was daunting however; within a few minutes we had all hands on deck. It was a great work environment with everyone applying themselves to the tasks at hand. We almost completed the cladding and have painted three coats on the exterior of half the building.
The boys are maintaining their respect for the hammer. Necessity is the mother of invention; therefore the challenge was given to design a way to protect your thumb from the inevitable thwack. The boys soon learnt that leather; foam, plastic and packing are no match for the metal face of a hammer. After Craig and Matt M split their thumbs open, the ultimate solution was found, to use pliers to hold the nails so the thumb is four inches away from the impact zone. You have to realise that in the external cladding there are over 700 nails and all required about 7 hits to break through the Masonite and then 3 to hit it into the frame. All are hammered in by hand. That is 7000 opportunities to hit your thumb. “If you ain’t bleeding, you’ve been bludging.”
The aim of this afternoon was to finalise all our unfinished tasks: the roof, the cladding and to clean the site ready for the internal fit out. I am pleased to say that we achieved all of this by 4 and had a well-deserved early mark. Tomorrow is an action packed day, sister Joanne’s final vows, shopping and basketball & dinner at Sister Gavy’s school.
Margie & Craig Jeffery
P.S. Thanks to all who’ve managed to write a comment on the blog. The boys love hearing from you and their faces light up when they hear from you.
Hi All,
Big shout out to my little brother Mark, who turned 13 on Wednesday,
Thanks to dad for the timing belt, and Mum and Claire, I miss you both heaps.
Happy birthday little man, I’ll see you all soon.
Tim Woodhouse
Hey everyone
We are all stupidly tired, this project is pushing us all to our limits but the happiness we all see in the kids makes it all worthwhile.
Looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back!
Love Tom Hill
Hello to all
It’s been a tough couple of days, but one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It’s amazing how quickly the building is being made before our eyes. Miss u all the family. By the way, you are allowed to write back, mum.
Andrew Connell
Hello family,
BOOYA.
From your loving son chris
1 comment:
To Tom Hill
Dear Tom,
Wec have enjoyed reading about your adventure at the orphange, hope your thumbs are not too sore. Bamps has got some jobs lined up for you!
lotsof love from Bamps,Nan and the Lawrences
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