Thu Nov 13 - Rome with transit legs (the transit is used to site and grade the building site) at O. R. Tambo airport in Johannesburg.
Thu Nov 13 - We thought at first we'd meet volunteers at the terminal arrival gate, but have since decided meeting at the Budget Rental office at OR Tambo airport is much easier.
Fri Nov 14 - Sr Catherine, Rome and Carol survey the building site
Fri Nov 14 - Emmanuel, Sr Catherine, Carol and Rome at building site.
Fri Nov 14 - The green water tanks are good. The white ones are not in use as they contain asbestos. We are trying to find somebody who can help remove them as they need to be replaced by two more green tanks.
Fri Nov 14 - Measuring the building site grade.
Fri Nov 14 - more measuring
Fri Nov 14 - More grade measuring
Fri Nov 14 - Carol & Emmanuel hold the measuring tape so Rome can measure the grade
Fri Nov 14 - Carol and Emmanuel help measure site grade
Fri Nov 14 - cattle on school grounds
Sat Nov15 - 7am at site
Sat Nov 15 - the grader arrives
Sat Nov 15 - we prepare to cut wire that will be used to tie together rebar cages for the foundation
Sat Nov 15 - Sr Catherine watches the stones moved that were collected by local families for the foundation. They won't be used for the foundation, but will be used to line raised beds for gardening and flowers.
Sat Nov 14 - The grader at work while Sr. Catherine looks on.
Sat Nov 14 - All the girls who helped cut the wire that will be used for the rebar cages
Sat Nov 15 - Several boys volunteered to bend the rebar that will be used in the foundation cages.
Sat Nov 15 - the daughter of one of the teachers.
Sat Nov 15 - the son of one of the teachers
Sat Nov 15 - I swear this grasshopper was used as a model for It's A Bug's Life.
Sat Nov 15 - It was between 3-4“ long. Shortly after this photo was taken it opened its wings. If I didn't know better I would have thought I was looking at an orange butterfly. Amazing!
Sat Nov 15 - It's really hard to see in this picture, but these boys are cutting straight rebar pieces that will become part of the foundation cage.
Sat Nov 15 - The rebar foundation cage is pictured in the back. Each cage is 6 meters long. Six were assembled today, with the help of many students and Sr. Catherine.
Sat Nov 15 - Boys are sawing rebar on the left, and two sets of cages are being constructed on the right.
Sat Nov 15 - The volunteers' first aid station. The bandaids have already come in handy!!
Sun Nov 16 - Rome lays out the project tasks for the next three days. This chalkboard is in a classroom next to the building site where we store tools and supplies.
Sun Nov 16 - The building site at 7am.
Sun Nov 16 - Ann cutting rebar for the foundation cages.
Sun Nov 16 - Ann and Carol work together on the rebar cutting. Rome is assembling the foundation cage to the left.
Sun Nov 16 - Form C (10th grade) students help assemble foundation cages.
Sun Nov 16 - This kid absolutely loves the camera. :)
Sun Nov 16 - more helpers, more foundation cages. We have assembled 12 in all with more to come.
Sun Nov 16 - Sr. Catherine and another Sister help with the assembly.q
Sun Nov 16 - Sister Emanuella carries rebar pieces into our staging classroom for storage. We are told rebar is subject to theft - people can use it for weapons - so we lock it up every day.
Sun Nov 16 - Two students watching the action. Our goal is to get the girls involved more. Sr. Catherine says there is a belief they can't do the work the boys do. We'll help them see they can!
Sun Nov 16 - Students help assemble the rebar pads that will support the steel beams of the building.
Sun Nov 16 - Rome and Josephine assemble a rebar pad.
Sun Nov 16 - Students weaving a rebar pad.
Sun Nov 16 - Sister Catherine helping with the rebar pad assembly
Sun Nov 16 - Sister Mary (who is Emmanuel's sister) is camera shy. :)
Sun Nov 16 - Parishioners from two different groups meet at the school every Sunday.
Sun Nov 16 - It was probably 90 in the sun but they seem completely unaffected.
Sun Nov 16 - Joy
Sun Nov 16 - These girls actually laid in wait for me to arrive with my camera. They can't get enough of their pictures being taken.
Mon Nov 17 - 7am at the site.
Mon Nov 17 - First load of sand arrives.
Sun Nov 17 - More rebar cages assembled
Mon Nov 17 - The man on the left in the sleeveless shirt is on the school committee. He's got a great name - I don't know the spelling but it's pronounced Nlk K C, if you can imagine the nlk soundling like a tongue-cluck.
Mon Nov 17 - Rome plans the measurements for the footing trenches
Mon Nov 17 - Footing digging begins.
Mon Nov 17 - First load of crushed rock arrives
Mon Nov 17 - the kids were fascinated by the machine and activity.
Mon Nov 17 - In the everpresent view of the beautiful mountain to the east of the school, the crowd grows to watch the progress.
Mon Nov 17 - In the course of excavating the site, this small culvert was discovered. Tonight it is covered with plywood - not sure yet what will be done with it.
Mon Nov 17 - Project site looking west
Mon Nov 17 - Part of laying out the building site included spray-painting the soil where it was to be cut. See the white dots? It would have been great to have one of those baseball diamond lining tools.
Mon Nov 17 - The first footing cut!
Mon Nov 17 - Gravel truck had some mechanical issues. It was spewing liquid - we feared gas at first. But these two employed a screwdriver and a couple of gallons of water and were able to carry on.
Mon Nov 17 - The son of one of the teachers. Very cute boy who is as eager to work as to play.
Mon Nov 17 - The first gravel added to the footings was done by this wheelbarrow brigade
Mon Nov 17 - This is Jordan (most kids have a Christian name as well as a Sesotho name) and he's one of the best workers here - always smiling and ready to pitch in.
Mon Nov 17 - Rome takes delivery of the compactor and the kids are fascinated.
Mon Nov 17 - The end of a long and very productive day.
Tue Nov 18 - Sr Catherine pounds in rebar stake that is part of the corner assembly used to site the building lines. All the swinging and pounding caused her cell phone cover to fly off and it was never found :(
Tue Nov 18 - 7:30 at the site
Tue Nov 18 - Teboho, Tsabo, Jackie and ? bend rebar for column supports
Tue Nov 18 - Picking out the 8 column supports - each is 120mm x 120mm. Sr Mary, the school purser, is in the middle. She is wearing a colorful cloth wrap, which is part fashion and part utilitarian as it acts as an apron.
Tue Nov 18 - Sr Josephine shoveling in her sparkly pink cloth wrap!
Tue Nov 18 - Sr Emmanuella gets into the act. I'm not sure of her age but she's in at least her 60s.
Tue Nov 18 - The oldest sister at the school, Sr Marisella pitches in too, hauling rock to support the foundation footing.
Tue Nov 18 - students have a look through the transit, which is the key measuring tool used to level the building site
Tue Nov 18 - if you want to make friends here, have a camera. As soon as it comes out, the kids come running
Tue Nov 18 - Bulane (pronounced Boolahnee) is an extraordinarily hard worker. On his own he spread crushed rock around nearly the entire site's footing in about 30 minutes.
Wed Nov 19 - The first cement arrives.
Wed Nov 18 - the site at 7am. Every day more students are turning out to work, and now many come at 6am to get in an hour of work before school starts
Wed Nov 19 - Jordan operates the compactor. (In addition to cameras, new tools are also kid-magnets.) In the foreground, the rebar cages await placement in the footing trenches.
Wed Nov 19 - Jackie with the compactor
Wed Nov 19 - placing the rebar cages in the footing trenches
Wed Nov 18 - Srs Mary and Florence
Wed Nov 19 - Mamelfan, one of the school's science teachers, has a go with the pick.
Wed Nov 19 - Rebar cages are in place. The concrete pour is the next step.
Wed Nov 19 - Rome share the plans with some of the boys.
Wed Nov 19 - The students check out their posted grades.
Wed Nov 19 - The new hall will contain beds that drop down from the wall at night, and fold up during the day, with chalkboards on their undersides. Rome shows Sr Catherine a prototype.
Wed Nov 19 - Students learn how to use the circular saw.
Wed Nov 19 - The girls lose their shyness and begin to help at the building site.
Wed Nov 19 - Monso and Dengli learn how to use a drill to assemble a corner form for the concrete pour.
Wed Nov 19 - Many students study agriculture. They have just planted their spring crop. When the new school year begins in the fall, a person from the Agriculture Ministry will come to the school to inspect and grade their plantings.
Thu Nov 20 - One of two concrete mixers we used, along with the concrete recipe. Not long into the pour, this recipe was doubled.
Thu Nov 20 - The building site at 9am
Thu Nov 20 - Tsabo poses with the mixer. The man in blue is Emmanuel, a teacher at the school and our local contact in the many months we planned this project. In the back Rome is sporting a Basotho hat, a gift from Sr Catherine. These big hats make an enormous difference in sun management.
Thu Nov 20 - Concrete pouring begins. It is grueling work and a sun shade was set up for those spreading the concrete in the hole.
Thu Nov 20 - Ann and Tsabo work the concrete mixer.
Thu Nov 20 - Even the littlest ones want to push the heavy, concrete-filled wheelbarrows.
Thu Nov 20 - Rome and Tsabo distribute concrete in the footing.
Thu Nov 20 - The girls come to work, filling buckets with the rock, rough sand and plain sand that make up the concrete recipe.
Thu Nov 20 - The students made a game of concrete delivery, running heavy wheelbarrows from the mixers to the pour site.
Thu Nov 20 - Soaked students celebrate after day 1 of concrete pouring, which was called due to a torrential downpour.
Fri Nov 21 - Day 2 of concrete pouring.
Fri Nov 21 - The concrete pour heads west along the north wall of the building. Rome and Carol prepare to take a test height measurement. The cage in the foreground is part of the baseplate assembly and will be placed into the rebar cages at each of the 16 footing cut outs. The steel columns will be set onto these baseplates.
Fri Nov 21 - The building site at 2pm.
Fri Nov 21 - We were blessed with some cloud cover as the concrete mixing continued.
Fri Nov 21 - Thabang (pronounced Tahbahng) managed the cement measuring
Fri Nov 21 - At times as many as 60 students and teachers work the concrete pour.
Fri Nov 21 - Sr Maricella helps line the footing trench with rock. Carol sports another Basotho hat. FYI, Lesotho (prounounced Lehsootoo) is the country, Basotho are the people of Lesotho, and Sesotho is the language.
Fri Nov 21 - Excited kids celebrate the end of day 2 of concrete pouring.
Sat Nov 22 - Little Thume (prounounced Toomee) is the mission cat.
Sun Nov 22 - The building site at 2pm
Sun Nov 22 - as the concrete pour ends, grading and spreading of crushed rock is taking place within the footings. These girls (and boy) make up the grading brigade.
Sat Nov 22 - Rome is at the transit to take final footing measurements as the concrete pour nears its end.
Sat Nov 22 - The boys celebrate the last few loads of concrete mixing.
Sat Nov 22 - A most fashionable empty-cement-bag hat.
Sat Nov 22 - We all celebrate the end of 3 days of the grueling concrete pour. This video doesn't begin to do justice to the amazing singing these kids do, and did, throughout the pour.
Sat Nov 22 - A view of the site from a water tower. The foundation pour is over, all the crushed rock we have has been spread around the interior, and the last task of the day is carrying in the steel beams from the side of the site. Beam erection begins on Monday.
Sun Nov 23 - Building site at 6:45am
Sun Nov 23 - Lesotho countryside
Sun Nov 23 - Lesotho sunset
Mon Nov 24 - School assemblies are every Monday and Wednesday. The last day of the school year is Friday, Nov 28.
Mon Nov 24 - The columns are in place.
Mon Nov 24 - Volunteer quarters. Mattresses will arrive on Wednesday Nov 26.
Mon Nov 24 - View from the south-facing volunteer quarters.
Mon Nov 24 - Cross-bracing in place in the NE corner. Tomorrow the roof trusses will be set in place.
Mon Nov 25 - Mysterious cloud over the mountain range - we think it was from a fire.
Tue Nov 25 - 6am at building site
Tue Nov 25 - Column set on baseplate
Tue Nov 25 - The Budget Rental site which is also the volunteer pickup sight.
Tue Nov 25 - Budget Rental volunteer pickup site. For reference, the Intercontinental Hotel is outside to the right.
Hauling away the old burned dead tree at east end of building site
The convent garden
Digging irrigation ditches
Orphan/boarder bunks
Toll gate on the looooong road to Lesotho
All these bricks would need to be moved.
The longest brick line.
11/28 : The back wall 2 courses high.
Kathleen and Kathy ( aka Kath 1 & Kath 2)
11/28: 4 courses
The piece of the wall I built for JD (Advanced Sweep and Scull 2008)
Me and my bit of wall.
11/28 Late afternoon
The PIT
Flower and Emerlly
Let's fill the pit!
Lisa conquers!
The pit the next day.
Emerlly and Sylvia
The internet cafe / barbar shop
During our down time, Jessica taught math and...
Kathy practiced for safari!
I would learn that this is NOT a big bug.
The burnt stump wrapped in wire on a pile of rocks
The Pit sans murky water.
No Pit anymore
Raphael and his soccer medal
Building platforms for water tanks
My bit of wall is behind those 2x4s
What did people do before digital?
Snack time!
Elizabeth and Lisa crocheting with plastic.
More math
The broken edges had to be sealed before the asbestos tanks could be removed.
Brooms: The big ones get confiscated at customs ( little ones are okay)
Thank goodness for 2nd skin! It keeps you clean and sunburnfree.
THe infamous pigs.
The view from my window.
Lisa won the bet on a technicality.
the border
Brick transfer bucket brigade
Catherine's washing machine dance
Volunteer accomodations
See the bird, like a Christmas star?
Nov 29, 2008
Sunrise at the project - a 360 tour
Holy Names High School - the new hall skeleton is in the foreground
Church bells ring
Nov 30, 2008
Dec 1, 2008
Dec 2, 2008
Spacemen
Dec 3, 2008
Dec 4, 2008
Main entry gate to Holy Names High School
