Kids, Construction and a Well.

Today we moved to the school to start doing the school physicals. These are the same kids we saw last year, my good buddy Rodesh came up to see me, he was my "helper" last year with the heights and weights. It was good to see them again. The Kearney team has been such a blessing, showing such compassion and love for the kids. It is truly an honor to be here with them.

I spent the day in the records department, at the check out stand. As each child was seen and finished their exams, I checked to see they had been to all the stations: height and weight, eye exam, medical screen, and pharmacy. Those that needed follow-up were given a letter to their parents, and we recorded their names in a ledger. Quite a few of them are going to be seen tomorrow at a local hospital for various ailments.

It was also great to see the kid's shoes. Last year, after seeing so many shoes the wrong size, totally broken out, obviously handed down to many kids, Katie decided to raise money to provide shoes for the kids. Because of her work, and the help of many friends of TEAM India, every kid got 2 new pairs of shoes at the beginning of the school year. Now, that was quite a few months ago, and they are showing wear, but it was great to see!

A couple of other projects going on: the tiling of the classrooms has not gone according to plan. The walls have many, many years of paint on them, a hard, enamel paint. The paint is harder than the concrete walls underneath. In order to get the tiles to hold, the paint must be chiseled out with tools, then a coat of mud applied, then the tiles applied. There has been a professional tiling team on hand, they have been doing the tile application, the Kearney construction team have served as their assistants, doing all the back-breaking work of mixing the cement (by hand), carrying it up to the second story, hauling tiles up to the rooms, etc. Brutal work, but these guys have been warriors at it.

Some of the other members of the construction crew have been building bookcases, units for holding book bags, lunches, etc. They are all working very hard in hot conditions to get things done. It looks like they will only get 2 classrooms finished, but they have certainly helped the center a huge amount.

Another item that got done was the well. TEAM India provided funds for the center to dig its own well, so it was not dependent on city water (which can be sporadic). The well drillers came yesterday, had to break down part of the wall surrounding the center to get the drilling truck in, cut through 60 feet of solid rock, then hit water. They continued down to 230 feet to give adequate cushion. Today the well head was constructed, tomorrow they should start pumping.

Tomorrow, finish up at this school, tear down and set up at the other school. Goodnight for now.

Stan