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| Alex installing the flap to prevent little bodies from crawling into the room |
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| William, who I had to near bodily stop from pounding a 3rd hole in my ceiling |
I was a bit nervous about cutting into the roof...we had measured 3 x both inside and outside. I was sure I had it right but this was the first time I had to rely on my own building skills. I was sure about the engineering part as I had run my plans by Papa Gundy back home. Turns out it was right on the money. My goal...ONLY ONE HOLE! The reality...one hole in the roof but 2 in the ceiling of my room thanks to someone trying to pound and inch round pole through from the ceiling side. I managed to catch this before a 3rd hole was made, gave them a thin 1/8 gauge steel rod which made a nice guide hole through which to drill and WALA...nice hole. The rest of this project went well (save for the fact the cement cracked overnight as it was not kept wet or covered...ohh well...just more work I suppose) and we managed to patch up the extra hole with the steel plate.
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| NO MORE THAN 1/2" I kept hollering We had 6" of cement roof which I wanted to remain intact |
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| Perfect! |
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| A little patchwork...a little paint, 'tis all good |
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| Hanging the heavy mats |
Hanging the mats was the first major issue...regular nails and then cement nails both failed...as did screws (as the mats just pulled away from the head of the screw) We used pieces of rubber to act like a washer and pounded the screws in with cement glue. YAY. Then it came to the big mirror again. This time I had large metal and rubber washers. We had the right sized screws and anchors and I had the cement glue.
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| Kids self portrait in the mirror |
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| There are no mirrors at Busega so the kids are intrigued by them |
It was taking a long time to match up the holes with the mirror holes as the rubber mats would move and stretch. After quite some time we managed to get 3 of the 4 screws in. I went into the storeroom to get some water when I heard CRACK! My mind would not go there...NO...It couldn't have cracked again. I walked in to see Robert with his head down and Brian with a shocked smile. The big mirror once again was sporting a huge crack in a nice uneven angle from bottom to top. For a moment I was thinking...maybe no one will notice....hmm.
My response at the time..."Robert...It is OK..it is fine...this will work out, don't worry." I called Jamile to rush another large mirror out for later that afternoon (He was quite happy to say the least)...Robert went up to the roof to finish cementing in the plate. I shut and locked the door behind everyone, sat in the middle of the PT room floor on a small chair in front of the 2cnd broken mirror put my head in my hands and cried.
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| A moment to breathe and chant "It's going to be OK...it's going to be OK" |
I kept thinking...maybe one of these people needs a job more than I need the money, maybe there is something I am NOT supposed to be doing with these mirrors, maybe there is a project I can do with these broken pieces....I got a text from Douglass (who came to check on the status and found the door locked) I am not well...I texted back. I finally relented and let him in....he just squatted next to me not saying anything and let me rant. "Maybe I should just give up" I said in exasperation.
He just laughed and said, "Carol, the one thing I know about you is that you are persistent and stubborn...you don't give up". I looked at him and laughed a bit. "OK..you're right". I think he felt bad for me. He remained after his work hours (it is a short day on saturday for employees) to help out.
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| Jamile and his crew making lemon aide out of my lemons |
The mirror was delivered, I had Jamile cut down the broken one into various sizes of squares (maybe a wall project?) and Robert, Douglass and I proceeded to tackle the tedious and now nerve wracking task of hanging the mirrors. It was now 4 PM and we were all tired. The new mirror's holes did not match the old one's so new anchors had to be drilled waaay to close to the old ones...
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| Robert (in blue) and Douglass (orange) "slowly by slowly" hang the mirrors |
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| "SPEAK TO THE HAND" after the 100th "Sister Carol" from the boys |
Between having to re-do the new anchors, remove the mirrors at least 2-3 x each if anything did not go in smoothly, manage broken drill bits (remember...NO HOME DEPOT nearby... or at all) holes being too big...to small...too angled...we managed to "slowly by slowly" as they say here...painstakingly and meticulously get the mirrors hung.
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| Standing in a stupor...it is finished |
It took all 4 of us...all 4 of us had ideas that helped get this done. Douglass's patience in managing everything slowly and meticulously was crucial. Robine's logical ideas and suggestions and Robert's all around skills and problem solving....It was teamwork...this could not have been done any other way. It was nice to know that we could all work together in such a way. I had only one small tear at the end...this was in relief that the hardest part of this project was now over. I said a prayer of "THANKS" knowing that maybe someday I will know why this had to be so challenging...at this moment, however, relief was fine by me.
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