Saturday afternoon we had scouted out the work sites and divided into 2 teams, one to work at the school at Iriree and one to work at Black Tank. I chose the school.
This school has about 100 students with 2 or 3 teachers. The main building is tin with a tin roof and dirt floors. The windows are covered with chicken wire. Our job was to dig up the dirt floors, haul out the dirt, lay large stones on the remaining dirt, knock off the points of the big rocks so they are all the same height, fill the spaces with gravel, lay plastic and wire over that, then mix concrete the old fashioned way - sand, gravel and lime, turning it with shovels - then hauling it in wheel barrows to the room for the finisher to work. After the concrete dried, the floor had to be swept and a finishing mix was put on. When that dried a red colored sulfuric acid was put on.
We were able to accomplish much more that we expected, finishing 3 rooms completely, room 4 ready for concrete and room 5 dug out. We didn't get anything done in room 6 but we expecting to get only 2 or 3 rooms done. The finished rooms looked wonderful! Many moms showed up each day to help with the work. They wanted very much to participate in helping their children.
The issue with the dirt floors is jiggers - a parasite that lives in the soil and gets into the feet primarily but also in the hands of the children and causes lots of health problems. The moms and Kenyan workers were so proud of this great looking floor. The finishing was all them - well, one of our guys helped - but they are the ones who really knew what they were doing!
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