WORK!!! We are ready. For the next four days we will be on a consistant schedule. 6:15am Breakfast. 7am Quiet Time (students work in their journals, read the bible, pray...by themselves. It's a good way to start the day) 7:30am head to work.
The church we are staying at has a full kitchen and we have full access. We had made a trip to the grocery store to purchase cereal, fruit, bagels, juice and other breakfast items. Each day two students have the responsibility of getting everything out (buffet style) and cleaning up.
It was a little hard to get up this morning, at least for the guys. We stayed up quite late talking about our experience on Sunday. There is nothing like Bourbon Street to get a good talk going about how women are treated in our culture. We concluded that we need to use the same system that God uses to value girls (people in general). That conclusion is a shot in the face of our culture. I pray that these young men continue to grow in integrity and character.
We drove to the Abney Elementary School this morning. The school is in a mixed race community...always has been. After the storm, three feet of water, it needed a major cleaning. Groups came in and threw away everything. Even books and supplies that could have been salvaged. Teachers lost everything in their rooms. But appartently this school was not as bad as some because it's enrollment jumped high. Suddenly teachers, who had little resources, were dealing with much bigger classes.
Note: This county has had a jump of 75,000 - 100,000 in population since Katrina. Many left New Orleans and came north of Lake Ponchartrain. The stress of life in this county can be seen in a recent newspaper. They listed the divources that were filed in the past 5 weeks. 148 couples have ended their marriages in the last 35 days.
So that's the area we are working in. The pre-school program that operates in this school has been left to cope on their own. They have 80 pre-schoolers and only recently have they been given an area large enough for them to have a playground.
Enter: Gulf Coast Relief Team. Our contact is one of the pre-school teachers, Cheryl. She has spent much of her own money to get stuff ready for us.
The pictures we bring back will tell the story so much better, but here we go. The grass had been mowed for, must be a month. So that looked bad. The tires that kids play on looked like they were last painted in the 1990's. There are play structures scattered around but none have mulch under them. The toys that are around are...well, just around. There are no areas that look like a playground.
The to-do list included: Mowing, weed whacking, painting the tires, racking the entire area, building an 8x8 sand box, building a 150' foot bike path out of shale rock, oulining all the play structures with landscaping timbers, building a picket 50' fence to inclose a kiddy kitchen play area, paint a shed, spread mulch around trees, and weed some stuff.
Everyone jumped right in. Ahmin, Sam and Josiah took care of the mowing and trimming. Ally started on the shed. Ben, Sean and Sarah started painting the tires. Karl and Nancy raked. John and I set to work to figure out materials. I drove to the hardware store 3 times by the end of the day.
We were told that a skid steer was available to us to move sand, mulch and shale. Josiah answered the call and spent, I'm guessing, 4 hours on it. The sand was to cover exposed tree roots, level the ground in places but mostly to put a base down for the 10' wide 150' long bike path. We used landscaping timbers to outine the track and hold in the shale. Each timber had to be pre-drilled three times and 12" re-rod (rebar) driven in to hold them in place.
John and Sam started on the play fence. They had a posthole digger and made fast work of the first side of the fence. Each 6' picket had to be cut in two and have decorative cuts made before they could be put on.
Ally decided to paint the shed with an animal background. Two horses are now looking out of the shed doors and little flowers are growing on either side. Very cute!!!
Karl, Ben and Sean worked out a system to carry the timbers to the power supply (200 feet away) drill the three holes and carry them back to Ahmin and I as we laid them out and hammered them place.
Sarah kept painting the tires. (She is so done painting the tires) By the end of the day we put a power drill in her hand and she smiled very big.
The track was ready for shale so Josiah started hauling it. He is getting really good at operating it. We ended up running out of shale half way through. There will be more delivered tomorrow.
We ended the day at 4pm and desparetly needed showers...man are we dirty. The church has a shower trailor in the parking lot. It is very nice and clean...and most importantly the water is wet.
I was trying to find a mexican restaurant for dinner but had no luck. I was sick of driving around so I decided to change our plans. (I was planning to surprise the students on Wednesday night...but they worked so hard today) I pulled into OSAKA, Japanese Hibachi Steak House. These are the kinds where the chef stands at your table and entertains you while he cooks your meal. I love to be with students when they experience first. Ally, Sarah, Ben, Josiah and John V. had never been to this type of restaurant. Holy Cow! Did we ever have a good time. Our chef was the most entertaining I've ever had and the food was amazing. Good times.
Before bed each night we have devotions. It's a good time for us to come together and discuss our day and have some time to pray. Time for bed!
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