32 days and a wake-up!!!

This string is how the builders keep the bricks even... Crazy...

The original builder... The new main builder is the guy in the blue shirt...

 And... here are some more pictures!!!  I'm absolutely amazed at the building process in this country.  Its fascinating to watch construction.  When my neighbor was building his house, I'd literally sit there and stare at him... taking pictures.  They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me... Anyways... We've had a few setbacks in construction.  First, we lost our original builder to tuberculosis.  He had been sick for quite awhile and relapsed about 2 weeks ago.  He was transferred to the main district hospital, but unfortunately, the intervention was too late.  Myself, my counterpart Alex, and some members of the school staff, management committee, and library committee attended his funeral.  It was far more difficult for me emotionally to attend since he had a daughter in Standard (Grade) 6 that was very emotional, plus I recognized her as one of the girls who attended the field trip to Mulanje, so I knew her.  Thankfully, his partner is also a very good builder, so he agreed to continue the project. 

Another setback has been costs of materials.  Prices have gone up quite significantly in the last few months.  Also, additional items/cost keep getting added unexpectedly from the original budget.  That's been pretty frustrating.  But, because of a donation from a 3rd party (huge thanks to Hayon and her class at Deira International), we managed to cover all the cost increases.  Additionally, we've been able to use some of the additional money to cover a training for all 10 library committee members at Muloza instead of either not having the training at all or sending only 1 person to Blantyre to get training.  Pretty exciting!

Otherwise... things are moving along fast!  The walls are constructed, roof is on, and as of today, walls should be all plastered!  Tomorrow starts the floor leveling and cementing.  If things go as scheduled, the wall should be limed by the end of the week!!  I'm hoping by the end of the training on Friday, we can start moving the library from the classroom into the new building!!! 

In other news... we welcomed 39 new trainees that will be replacing my group and then the COS-ing health in August.  Its awesome to see some new faces and I hope that they will love being here.  Attended my last Volunteers supporting volunteers (VSV) meeting last week as well.  It's nice to see the group moving into a positive direction.  I think that this committee has a ton of potential and definitely think its on the roll to achieving it. 

Anyways... here's a few more pictures from the library... they are about 1.5 weeks old, so its much farther along than this... And also the trainees as they got to the airport! Sorry folks, the picture isn't zoomed in... and we didn't get time for more due to rainy season drizzle... :(  Pepani!

Halfway thru constructing the walls.. with home-made scaffolding!

A view from the inside!  Sort of...

Trainees!!!  Wahoo!!!  We welcome you with two hands! (Takulandilani ndi manja awiri!)