Final Work Day

Thu. June 24: Our final day dawned sunny and less cool than the day before. Marv, Mary, Macel, Maddie, Emily, Alex, Elijah, Katie, and Karen got up at 4:45 to climb the hill and watch the sunrise. I got up and saw that I could see the sun rise from my bed and decided that would do. After breakfast my group and one other went back to Agnes’ trailer to finish up while Marv’s went to continue the roofing job at a long, added-on-to house. There was a nice breeze that kept the roofers cool enough but Marv said that the shingles were really too hot to have so many people walking on them. They finished the job, though, and that was very satisfying. They stopped for ice cream and got back earlier than scheduled. Our group finished the front porch/deck, repaired and remounted the back porch with the old steps from the front, and completed the corner caps for the skirt. There were plenty of jobs for everyone there. Then we headed to the Grandma’s nearby trailer to repair gaping holes in the floor. There were not so many things to do there and most of the group ended up sitting around and chatting. Karen and I measured and cut while David and Mark did the repairs inside. We fixed two and, although it was getting pretty late, David really wanted to do a third. I suggested that Marisa take the van full of people back, leaving Karen and the men to finish and Maddie to play with the many kids (that was her preference). When we got back to Re-Member we found that two groups were still out and that everyone who had returned had done the cleaning on their own. We began packing and, when one of the groups was back, we enjoyed a Pizza Hut dinner that no one had to prep or clean-up. We had Wrap-up of the experience with just our group again, telling the Greatest Gift from the week and the thing we would like to leave here when we go tomorrow. I found it interesting that about half of the people talked about negative ideas or behaviors that they hoped to “leave behind” and half spoke of the ways they hoped they had had an impact to “leave behind”. The final activity was ice cream sundaes and then Marv and I climbed the hill one more time and watched the sun set from the same place he had watched it rise. We got our Prayer Partner gifts and tried to finish all but the last minute packing. It had been an emotional, and in some ways heart wrenching week, where we all learned a great deal and could leave with the feeling that we have had an impact on this very impoverished but culturally rich community.