Can't believe we're already at the halfway point of the trip! Two weeks from today we'll be back on the plane headed home.
After just two days of work at Thaba Bosiu we are way ahead of schedule with both the greenhouse and the playground!
At the greenhouse site this morning things were off to a slow start. After a little confusion with which nails or screws or screw-nails to use we figured out what materials went where. Not much progress was made before lunch, but after our break things were cruising. Work began on attaching the multi-colored plastic sheets to the sides of the greenhouse and our blue, white, green repeating pattern was made to resemble the Lesotho flag. New engineering tactics were being used to construct the roof and the sound of hammers echoed through the field. By the end of the day we were proud of how much we accomplished.
On the side of the field, in the offices constructed of empty shipping crates, a group of highly skilled artists began decorating the spaces with educational paintings. They began with a map of Africa that covers an entire door in the crate. The impressive map includes outlines of all the countries in Africa and soon they were painted vivid colors. The other door and the inside walls are waiting to be decorated with inspirational quotes written in both Basotho and English. Everyone, even the locals, was impressed by the accuracy of the map and took pictures of it to show around to their friends because it was just that good! Shout out to Anna for free-handing the entire thing!
Across the fields, the other half of the group was busy continuing to build a playground for children at Little Angels Daycare. With the concrete foundation still drying from yesterday, we carefully picked up where we had left off. When we stepped onto the site this morning, the playground looked like nothing more than a large shelving unit attached to a set of monkey bars, which slowly transformed throughout the day. Shovels and pick axes flew as more holes were dug, and the hose was stretched as far as possible to water the concrete mix. Part by part, the playground began to come together. We added a firefighter pole, a slide, two swings and three separate entrances onto the set, all topped off with the roof that took all of our hands to hoist up. Just when it appeared that we were done, safety factors came to mind. Meant for toddlers, the playground was at least two to three times the height of most of the children. Creativity came into play, and we used the remainder of the supplies to add rails and child-proof the playground. After a long day of work, it paid off to see the finished product.
All in all, our productivity paid off, and the hard work we put in today will make for a great rest of the week!!
Maggie J, Maggie R, and Kaylee