Making Progress!

Slowly but surely we are making progress on the orphanage. Monday Gwen and I went to the home to start cleaning Mama's room. The boys we hired to clean had not started anything probably because the mason workers were not finished and it is useless to clean anything while workers are still there. But Gwen and I were stir crazy and had to do something. Mama's room has a door so we could close it off from the mess of the rest of the house. The walls of the room were covered in some yellow-brown gunk! We bought buckets, scrub brushes, a broom and soap and started to sweep. Just as soon as I started sweeping one of the boys who lives there for security while it is empty came and nicely took the broom from me and he continued to sweep. I am not sure if this is a cultural thing or he was afraid I was taking his job. Either way, I just let him sweep while Gwen and I prepared the buckets of soap and rinse water. As soon as we started scrubbing he took one of the brushes and started scrubbing too. There was no sense in fighting his so we just let him scrub. We brought in the ladder and with the help of Chua, the general contractor, we asked this boy (named John) to start scrubbing the high parts of the room down to the teal green paint under neath. Chua also asked him how much he expected to be paid and John asked for 5000 Shillings, about $4 US. We agreed. Gwen and I scrubbed the lower areas while John scrubbed high and low. John was a good worker! Without his help there is no way we would have finished that room, which was very important because the painter should be there today.

This afternoon we meet Mama. We have arranged a translator to meet us with Mama at Kashenge's office (Kashenge is Phil's partner in this work) so Gwen can start to get to know more about Mama. Gwen has already purchased material to make her an apron and house coat.

I have been trying to upload more photos but it is not wroking today. The good news is the metal front security door has been installed, the frames to the bathroom doors are in and the mason guys were working on building the stand for the water stroage tank. Hopefully painters are there as I type. We will go by on our way home this evening to see what progress has been made today.