Day 5: Handover & Sleep out

Today was the last day of building and as we arrived back on site we leapt straight back into our tasks. Now that the floor was complete, many of us worked on the lower level. We poured cement in the foundations and created a day bed while others finished work on the roof. Then it was it: the moment of truth. Sonya called us over to the berms to get a good view and we watched anxiously as the roof was hoisted onto its beams.
We were watching all our hard work come together into one physical creation- it was nerve-wracking and it was spectacular.
Then it was the handover to the family we had been working with. They had a chance to thank us for our work and we had a chance to thank them and the builders for their hard work too. This was the part many of us had been most looking forward to and represented the end of our work in the village. However, our time there was not over and we were quickly divided into groups to prepare for our sleep out. As groups of 3 or 4 we were handed just $2 US with which to buy the ingredients for a family dinner.
At the markets we gathered vegetables, not knowing how many people in our families we had to feed, nor how far $2 would take us. We also had to keep in mind that our rice would cost us around 13c of that money, supplied by the teachers. As it turned out, the food was extremely cheap with most of us sparing just under a dollar. We then returned to the huts and the families somehow made a delicious meal with the random mixture of vegetables we had managed to pick up.
We ended the night dancing with the children and celebrating our achievements before settling down to our bamboo matts and mosquito net beds.
By Charlotte & Will A

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