Day 13: Paint and steaks

​For those wondering about Day 13 – yes, we had one! (It’s just getting harder to get volunteers for the blog ;)
 
We kicked off the day with a delicious brekky of chapattis and Rolexes made by the divine Juliet, Elizabeth and Peace, and with a devotion led by Loren on the power of prayer. A quick power walk up to the village later, and we got going with bricklaying the kitchen and painting the houses. Our visit to the slums gave us extra motivation to work hard – we could see what a difference the village makes to the children living there. 

​Seeing the slums and how dark it was inside the houses there helped us understand the value of painting the brown interior mudbrick of the houses to a nice bright cream – it gives the children an environment to live in that doesn’t remind them of the slums. Bryony also created a pretty butterfly design for the bedrooms and taught some of the girls how to paint them, so they can keep going with those after we’re gone.
 
By lunchtime, the brickie team finished laying the kitchen! Yay! (By Monday we hope to have a fully completed kitchen and pic to show you all J ) A feast of salad rolls and cold sodas at the prayer hut at the village later, we all resumed painting. Today’s houses were harder – a different kind of render made the bricks a little bumpier to paint, so it was tricky to get all the nooks and crannies. Another team painted the windows and doors with a very drippy red paint (and had to bathe in white spirits to get it all off). Houses 1 – 6 now almost done!
 
After knocking off at 4pm, we all cleaned up ready for dinner at All Friends with the HopeBuilders management team! It was a great night of conversation and laughter, and quite a few mixed grills and steaks thrown in. Delish! We got back late, and went to bed ready for a big day of rafting!
 
— Kaitlyn