Sunday, February 27, 2011

Adams Hall is Completed!

The dorm is completed! Praise the Lord! Thanks to all of you who contributed to this project through your prayers, financial support, and more prayers. What a blessing is it to see Adams Hall in its new condition! This 60 year old structure has really been given a new life! When I would visit the site, the contractor and the workers would always comment on the difficulty of renovation verses the ease of new construction. They would start to do the plumbing and realize there was little left they could work with. They would start with the windows, and see that bullets from fighting during the war had damaged the window frame bending it so the windows didn't close properly. Unexpected findings made the work 'interesting' and challenging but they met these with expertise. I am also thankful for Mr. Fred Gbatu and his work team who did such a professional job and put up with all my visits, questions, 'suggestions', and input. They were a joy to work with.

And fortunately, it was completed in time for the 178th Liberian Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church which was hosted by the Gompa District on the Ganta United Methodist Mission Station. The dorm was used by the conference officials.


  Finished exterior:
 


 New bathroom in the matron's quarters:



A few finishing touches being put on the interior:



Remember the picture of the second floor bathroom? This is what the floor looks like now! We still have the wall tile to finish but we wanted to get it ready at least for the annual conference. The tile will be added later.



Looking from the living room through to one room and the matron's quarters. The stairs go up to the second floor. The contractor added a skylight that brightens up the stairwell.
 

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Safe Water Is Here

Even though we haven't started the renovations on the second dorm, we did get a small grant from the Rotary Club for a well to serve two dorms and a surrounding community. What a joy for them not to worry about getting safe water. Eventually, when the dorm is renovated, there will be inside plumbing for that facility.

Life In The Yard

One of the chickens in my yard found a 'cozy' place to make her nest. What's interesting is how open the area is. We added the little basin covering so she might have some protection from falling leaves, dust, and occasional rain we get in the dry season. I'll show the results of her labors in a future posting.

"Mr Tire" - Liberian Style

I had a nail in a tire of my car that needed fixing and this was the place to do it!


The 'machine' to take the tirewell off was especially ingenious.


 It cost all of $2.50 to fix and I was on my way to Monrovia.

Work On Adams Hall Continues...

Continuing the work on Adams Hall. The interior work progresses:



 Tiling the first floor bathroom.

 

Putting up mosquito netting on the windows.



Still a lot of work to do on the second floor bathroom because of the damage to the floor.



 A painter with his son working in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The walls were all the natural wood
which is dark and, over the years, has discolored. A light colored paint will make it brighter and fresher looking.