Day 5-Matt's Birthday

Day 5 was another wonderfully progress-filled day. We started off the morning with a suprise visit from a monkey who decided to check out the compost pile at the compound. By the end of the day we had poured more of the concrete on top of the walls of Building One, and almost finished all of the interior walls. Building Two has all the exterior walls basically ready to have the ring beam poured as well.

A few windows were set, as well as one of the doors. Ruth came into the building and when we asked her whether she has seen the windows, she smiled broadly, and said, "I am even planning the curtains." With that, she took off her outter skirt/wrap,and held it up high, as if it were the curtain. She keeps grinning and saying, "I have so much joy because we are going from the mud house to the permanent house."

We enjoyed the delicious food and hospitality once again from Ruth. Every other day she and her helpers make a delicious lunch for the crew. Today she brought us Ugale, a cornmeal-based dish, which some of us found appealing and others didn't even try.

We have developed great relationships with the Kenyan workers. They are hard-working, cheerful, and extremely willing to help. They are also great teachers, and we have learned to say Thank you in Swahili: Asante. or Shukran.

Unfortunately, I (Ethan) found out today that I was keeping productivity down by 30 percent when Bill stated they had to stop several times today for mortar to come. Little did they know the reason they were waiting is because the mortar mixers were trying to teach me new words.

The day finished up with a chicken noodle soup dish and a birthday cake for Pastor Matt. Lucky him- he was given a Rungu which is a glorified name for a club used for protection and to herd cattle.

Tutaonana (See you later).