We were told at 8 am that the bossman had been waiting for us up at the church. They had never worked on a Saturday here before so we felt foolish not going directly after breakfast like we would on a weekday. I bet they thought we only came for a vacation!
Still no interpreter and there were two bossmen this time. One was bending some small steel rod with a form made of nails pounded into a rough piece of wood nailed between two tree branches about waist high. Hundreds of rectangles were made by simply bending the steel rod around the nails, in a pattern, turning and bending again, turning, and so on until the proper shape was complete.
The other boss was sitting on the bent grass with a limestone rock between his spread eagle legs. He would lay a 12 to 14 foot length of re-rod on the stone and then hit it just 2 or 3 times with a small sledge hammer and a chisel. Amazingly, he cut through 3/4 of the re-rod with just those few hits, and then would bend it back and forth once, as it snapped. Looked so easy till we tried it. I hit my finger about the sixth swing! OUCH!! Right above the first knuckle on my pointer finger. It swelled like a gumball under the skin and bruised almost instantly. Jeremiah tried next. Same outcome. Swing after swing after swing, then bend after bend after bend...nothing. You'd think it was steel or something! Ha! Then Cooley took the helm and did well. It was much harder than it appeared. It took a lot of core strength and coordination, of which neither I have!
Soon we were ready to assemble corner structers for the new porch. Four re-rods with the rectangles made of bent steel rod slide over the structure about every 8" apart down the entire length of the re-rod. We used small wire, 6" lengths, to tie each rectangle to each corner of the re-rod. We worked on these till lunch in 90 degree direct sunshine. All were toasty pink when we returned. A few already had blisters forming. No more work till Monday now. The concrete had not yet arrived by boat...nor had the interpreter.
So we refreshed in the ocean for a couple of hours, relaxing uner swaying palm trees on the pale white sand. A luxary down here on a work trip. Last time we only had this opportunity once. We didn't know when the next opportunity would arise. Sheer paradise...and to think just a couple hours away is such devastation. It's easy to forget that.
Our interpreter Milord arrived in the afternoon. We were thrilled!!! Yes, because we were living in a foreign land with not much communication happening...but even more so because our good friend had been greatly missed in our lives since we last worked with him. We talked much the rest of the day as more and more and more villagers came to sit around the pastor's yard and visit. Several were singing hymns together, others were talking in small groups about the "blanc" (white people), and the children were all laid out on the cement porch coloring on the pages we brought with us. An old tradition I had started during my last visit. Their faces beamed with joy with so many coloures in their hands!
Another day. Another night. Some rain early morning....and then...Day 4 came in with a scream!!!
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