The swing set is red, the see-saw is blue, we had fun today now it is time to tell you! Hello! This is Hannah Self and Ravis Mubiangata signing in on this very busy day. Today was our first Community Action Project (CAP) Delivery Day where a lot was to be done.
Our day started off with an early 6 AM wake up followed by a Desayuno (breakfast) of Eggs, Toast, and Ham at 7. We left for Rio Blanco at 7:45 where we began to work at approximately 8:30 (more thorough details later in this post). At 12:30 PM we took a break for lunch which consisted of rice and chicken. All of us were anxious to go back to work and after a team regroup, we were back at work at around 1:30. After more hard work, we were disappointed to find out we had to start cleaning up and leave Rio Blanco at 4:30. As we arrived back at the Fundacion at about 5:15, we had a rest period until 6 where our Donor Letter Seminar was carried out. After the seminar, we had a Cena (dinner) of rice and vegetable soup at 7:00.Then, we had our usual Nightly Meeting at 8:00.We finished at approximately 9:00, we had free time until our usual bedtime at 10:30.
As for more details on our project: Our main goals for this CAP Project is to finish where Delegations 1 and 2 left off, finishing the Children’s Play-Education room. This consisted of finishing the see-saw and working on the interactive alphabet wall game. In addition, we had extra projects to complete. These consisted of: a giraffe height measuring wall decoration, an interactive multiplication table wall game, and creating a door for a safe entrance. We also planned on creating a Merry-Go-Round to add to the play structures.The Merry-Go-Round is going to be completed by Esteban and the community members of Rio Blanco. The see-saw was sanded and painted and as creativity arose, the see-saw was painted in the form and colors of the Dominican Republic Flag. After the paint dried, the bamboo-metal handles were attached. The see-saw is now complete and some of the Glimpsers were even able to play on it. Some students had so much fun that many are fantasizing about creating one when they get home (sorry parents). The existing swing set got a new coat of paint and now matches the see-saw in its Dominican Republic Flag semblance. The giraffe height measuring wall decoration was started and even completed today and looks amazing. The team has fallen in love with it and has even given it the majestic name of Miguel. The multiplication table was also started today but since it was a tedious process, that will have to be completed tomorrow. The interactive alphabet wall game pieces were started today by cutting squares out of plastic and writing both English and Spanish words and drawing pictures on them. This will also be completed tomorrow.The child friendly alphabet floor padding was also worked on today and since the Merry-Go-Round was out of reach for us, some creativity was also sparked into the floor designs. We created special words out of the tiles such as “Bamboo,” “Coffee”, and “Mountain” to have the kids recognize on the floor and even to connect themselves and the room to Rio Blanco. Due to the messy jobs done today, the floor will have to be put down tomorrow to keep it as clean as long as possible. We are hoping to complete all itasks for the “inauguration” ceremony on Saturday. Things are going so well, that we just know that we are going to finish.
Our Question Of The Day (How can we be most efficient with our time in order to ensure our goal is met?) and our leadership were definitely tested today when we found out that we were unable to work on the Merry-Go-Round leaving some of us in “unemployment” as we called it, forcing us to integrate into other jobs. It was a challenge, but we managed and we were able to get even more work done today than we had originally thought.
Overall, it was a hard day, but definitely full of reward. It is amazing to see the room finally coming together and the fact that we will be completing it tomorrow is even more exhilarating. We are excited to see what tomorrow brings and to work to our full potential. We know we can do this. Goodnight for now!
Much Love,
Hannah and Ravis