Ultimo el Blogo for April 18, 2009
We did it! The school isn’t finished by any means, but in our two weeks in Huancayo, we got a lot done! On our last day our Contractor, Allahandro, brought in a small cement mixer, mucho 45 kilo bags of cement, a dump truck load of true gravel and some workers who know how to handle cement. We got to work making concrete while some of our team members touched up the painting we had done earlier to the upstairs classrooms. Rotary President Sean McKenna, his wife Jennifer and Dr. Ben Anders went with Violeta, our super helpful Arguedianos contact to pick up and deliver the six white boards, markers and coloured chalk for the three schools we visited. They reported shock on the faces of each Principal at the generosity of our group. They graciously accepted our gifts and it is truly gratifying to know that we have improved the learning environments for mucho, mucho children!
Back to the concrete making!! Here’s a recipe for you do-it- your-selfers: 45 shovelfuls of gravel, of 45 kilo bag of cement, a container or so of water from the 5 litre old vegetable oil can with a handle welded onto it (hey, whatever works!) Put this all into the cement mixer, mix and then pour into wheel barrows, then walk the w.b.’s into the Admin Building and pour out the concrete! Well, two hours and twenty minutes later, we had some tired team members, seemingly unfettered cement workers and a beautiful cement floor for the Admin building! I have to say, we were all proud of ourselves. I think we surprised our hosts with our very strong work ethic and determination!
With our work at the site completed we shared hugs and congratulations with the one another and our now “amigo” workers!!! It was an emotional, joyous moment none of us will soon forget!
On Friday night, we were treated to another example of Peruvian culture. Our friends from the Rotary Club of Huancayo hosted a marvelous dinner at Past President Juan’s beautiful home. We were entertained by a delightful trio who sung traditional Peruvian songs in a very passionate way. At this point, we all agreed, it would be nice if Canada could adopt some of the passion this country exhibits so freely. We don’t shake hands, we hug and kiss on the cheek to say hello and good bye. We dance because the music is so inviting! We ate Peruvian favourites, drank sweet Peruvian wine (everything can’t be perfect) and danced with our Rotary Amigos and Amigas! It really was a delightful evening that again, we will not forget!
It’s Saturday and we are on a bus on the way back to Lima (ahh…sea level)! It has been great sending these blogs but like our work on the site, we are finito!
See you all back in Kamloops!
Regards
Jaimie and Tom
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