This morning we started our day off at 6:30am on site, where everyone started off with their projects (the gazebos, picnic tables and the painters).

It was a slow start for some groups, just getting into the hang of things and learning how to do everything. For the picnic table group, we encountered some problems by cutting the legs of the tables at the wrong angle but adjusted our thinking and ended up making a smaller table for all of the younger kids. The gazebo group started off by not having any concrete to start off the posts and main frame. Once the concrete had arrived, they started to gain momentum. The painters, started by filling in all of the cracks and holes in the walls of the bedroom with polly-filla. This polly-filla took so long to dry that it delayed some of the painting.

Although there were challenges that we faced in the morning, there were many highlights throughout the day for all of us. The picnic table grouped managed to build 2 whole tables today. Everyone worked really hard with most of us learning new skills such as using the grinder or jigsaw.

For the gazebo group despite having no concrete to begin with they ended up finishing their main frame work and putting in all of the poles which is a massive achievement in a small time. They dug all of the holes out in the rain as well.

And yes, the weather today wasn’t so great. This morning when we woke up it was a little windy and cold and very cloudy. At about 10:00 it started to rain. So, the picnic table group had to retreat under cover and resume work under the shed.

Some highlights for the painters, was that they put their first layer of paint on for the whole girls room. On top of this they have also fully finished all of the roofs for both rooms. Both of these rooms are huge spaces that took a lot hard work to finish.

Today everyone had a massive lunch, which was delicious, and the family who live here put in a lot of hard work to get breakfast lunch and dinner for us. The amount of food and choices are abundant.

We finished all work today at 5:00 and went up for dinner. After dinner today, all of the kids came running up from their house to the playground to see us and we were flooded with many hugs. They were singing, dancing and playing with all of us. It was eventually time for them to leave and it was hard for them to leave. None of them wanted to go!

Once all of the kids had left. We went into the girls’ house and went for our nightly debrief run by Alex Avern-Taplin. We discussed all of our challenges, highlights and our plan for tomorrow. She did a great job!

It’s easy to say I think everyone was ready for bed by 7:30!! We were all very tired from a hard days work. We are looking forward to another busy day.

Written by Samantha Ross and Caitlin Anastas