Yes! We are finally in the ground! Officially the work began on Thursday morning with the erecting of the counstruction frame, actually the framework represents the height of the base wall which is built atop of the footing. The height of the base wall will ultimately determine the level of the floor which is about 15 inches above the highest point of the land, so we can have proper drainage away from the building!
Day 2 Friday January 13 2012
The next picture shows day 2 when 6 Haitian workers began to dig the outline of the foundation after it was marked with lime chalk. Yes only picks and shovels here.
This is a picture of our lovely supervisor who will oversee the project with an iron fist, note the adequate attire for this type of work! Day 2 ended with about 1 foot of trench dug out.
After 2 full days of digging with pick and shovel and a crew of 15 Haitian workers, we have reached a depth of 80 cm or 30 inches below grade. I know that some of you must be thinking this is a strange way to dig a foundation however, here it makes sense. The ground we are digging in is virgin soil and very compact clay. Very good for laying a concrete footing in for our project. Because the footings are so close together outlining all of the walls of the Guest House, we only need to dig out the space for the footing; much less expensive to build this way. Heavy equipment here is not always easy to hire and can be over $2500 pesos per hour to use. On Monday the concrete work begins, walls will be going up within a week!
All that waiting and now so much is happening!
Laura and I wish to thank all of you who are supporting our project with your comments and emails and prayers. We still require more funding for the additional projects of a security wall and the dining area. All donations, both Corporate and Private are eligible for tax receipts through our partner in this project; Bridges of Hope International Organization of Development Agencies is handling all of our construction funding. Please follow the link at the bottom to donate to this project!
Bendiciones todos!
Michael and Laura
http://www.bridgesofhope.ca/index.php?p=International_Projects
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