Impaputo Project nearly finished

Before wash

Washed walls

Painted but needing name replaced

Here is the sequence of events and what the same wall looked like and looks like as of Friday.  They are still finishing all three buildings.  What a difference.  Can you see why the colors were chosen as they were?  We hope this will help them maintain the clean look of their buildings easier.  They have really claimed this project as their own.  We hope it is finished by Christmas this week.

The instructions on how to paint were an important part of the project.  Because we were not willing to pay for a painter and they did not have the cash, they decided to learn to paint themselves.  JMTrading, who provided the paint ,was willing to train the people at Impaputo School to paint their own buildings.  There were 5 steps to be taken.  1.  wash the walls.  2.  Sand the walls  3.  Wipe the sanded material off the walls 4.  fill the holes with massa. 5.  Roll the paint after 4 hours of dry time for the massa.

We had more than 50 people out to help in all these stages.  I was very glad to see the school children there as well washing, sanding, patching, and painting.  This is one of the Welfare Principles.  The Project needs to be "owned" by them, our partners.  We are not in charge.  They are.

The day we were there to help wash, the 5th grade class was there to wash the walls.  There were a few 7th graders too.  One little girl brought her baby sister on her back to help.  Cute and amazing.  How much washing of walls do you think she got done?

 The Impaputo School Committee had to be there to be trained when the guy bringing the materials showed up because it is an hour from Maputo where the materials came from.  The materials guy would not come back out here just to train at a later date.  These Impaputo School Committee who had promised to learn how to paint waited two days at the school for the delivery.  They were still there when it finally was delivered.  We were there too.

Being trained how to paint

These are dedicated parents who want to work with the school for their children.

We are impressed with the School Administrator.  He has been there every time and has taken charge along with the School Committee Chefi.  One of the things the School administrator plans to do is put in electricity for lights.  He plans to have reading classes in the evenings for parents who have never been educated.  This will serve several purposes.  Besides helping the community in education, it will light the school at night which will keep down vandalism at the school.

We have 5 open projects right now.  We feel we have work to do.  The suggested maximum projects open is 5.

hard workers

Cute

Excited about the project

Two are in Beira, a plane ride away.  The others are all with schools, paint, desks, electrical, refurbishing, textbooks.  The two in Beira are Major initiatives with representatives from Salt Lake that we work with.  Both are at hospitals, one with vision and the other Helping Babies Breath.  I am excited to work on them too.

We are off to our Mateque Refurbish project.  They are receiving their first shipment of materials after working with them for 5 months.