And Now For Something Completely Different...

We interrupt this blog to bring you a story of a job that has taken Ron's attention from building a hostel to building a bridge.

Construction continues on the hostel.  Phil Falconer, forman Johanas and the guys keep plugging away.  Ron says that once the walls are going up, it doesn't look real different from day to day.  And meanwhile our day guard, who has construction experience, is starting to work on the staff duplex.

The bridge on the way to RFIS - falling apart!

But Ron's attention has been pulled to a pressing need.  This bridge is on the road that most students and staff travel going to and from Rain Forest International School (RFIS).  The area around RFIS is seeing more construction, and that calls for more trucks loaded with sand, gravel, and bricks.  Such heavy loads and increased traffic is taking a toll on this bridge.  (Pun intended)

It’s gotten so that nearly every day a car or truck has difficulty crossing – boards break, the support boards underneath bunch up, and it has become quite dangerous to cross. Parents and staff have been advised to take a different, less convenient route to school.

You can see the lengthwise boards on the bridge break and scatter after every vehicle passes.

So RFIS Administrative Assistant, Mr. Norbert, contacted the Chef de Quartier to discuss a solution.  Someone in the area donated a tree which was cut by chainsaw into lumber, as all lumber here is cut.  So sorry we don’t have a picture of that process.  The RFIS and missionary community "donated" labor, and engineering.  He has done a lot of research to design the bridge and will supervise workers from RFIS and each of the hostels.

Charles, Aoudou and Engelbert helped get the lumber ready

Ron and a few of the guys went out to the forest with a truck to bring the cut lumber to RFIS for planing.  At about 200 pounds a piece, the boards are tough to move around.

Boards laid out like they will be on the bridge

Then they laid the boards out at school the way they will be on the bridge which will serve heavy trucks, cars and motorcycles.  These boards are 3 times as wide as the boards of the original bridge, so they should do well.
Hopefully the bridge repair / reconstruction will be complete by the end of next week.  Then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled stories of hostel construction!

January 18 Upper Level Begins

Wow, it's been a long time since the last post.  A thousand apologies!  Internet has not cooperated well until now.  I promised that "coming soon" would be pouring the floor on the upper level.  Well, the cement truck never came.  It had to be done the old fashioned way - by wheelbarrels.  But it all got done on 18 January.  Here's the pics...

Floor of the upper level in foreground, walls of lower level in teh background

January 14

We thought that on Friday (the 13th of January) the cement truck would come again to pour the ground floor to the upper level of the hostel.  But the cement company informed Ron that something was broken (TIA - this is Africa) so the cement will be delivered next week.  This sounds like a Friday the 13th bad luck story.

However, on the contrary, it is a Providence of God story.  Early on Saturday morning January 14, Ron got a phone call saying the 2 - 20 foot containers we'd purchased, and had been waiting for since before Christmas, had arrived!  These are empty containers that will be the base of a duplex housing for Covenant / Free Church staff of RFIS.  Well, it would be ok to get the cement floor on Friday and have 2 containers delivered the very next day, but much better to spread out the excitement a bit.

Click here for a 30 second video showing how they got the containers off the delivery truck. 

Have a look at the delivery of these 2 containers.  One truck brought the 2 containers.  Each one was dragged off the truck outside the gate of the hostel.

The 2nd container being pulled off the flat bed truck that delivered them.

On the road outside RFIS back gate, looking into the hostel gate

Pulling the container inside the gate - view from road outside

Pulling the container inside - view from inside the gate.

The containers will eventually serve as storage for the staff duplex.  Meanwhile, it'll be a supply shed during construction.

Temporary resting place

On opening the containers up, an odor revealed that these had previously housed live animals - chickens or pigs.  And they are in desperate need of cleaning before use!  Still, Ron says they are in great shape and should serve well as storage and the base on which to build a duplex.

Now pray for the cement to be delivered soon!

Coming Soon!

Sorry, no pictures this time.  But I did want to let you know that very soon we'll be pouring the floor to the upper level.  This is not the 2nd floor but the bottom floor of the upper level of the split level building.  Ron explained it to the kids that the hostel is kind of 2 buildings, one a little higher up the hill from the other, and they're connected by a stairway.  So we're soon to start on the "2nd building."

January 3

While we were away relaxing at the beach in Kribi between Christmas and New Years, the guys on the construction site were busy putting up walls.  Ron was pleased to see the progress on his first day back to work January 3rd.

Lower level with walls going up on left, upper level on the right; CMF in the background left and AOG shop in background right

Foreground upper level; background L to R AOG shop, water tower, entrance gate, guard house, pile of cement blocks

Now pivot to the right for the next view:

The orange door in the wall (top right corner) leads to RFIS property

Now pivot 180 degrees for this view:

Upper level in foreground, lower level behind

Upper level, lower level new walls, and CMF Hostel at top right

December 24 Lower Level Walls Begin

Christmas Eve and the men continued to work, getting the walls started.

And after they got that much started, we went away to the beach at Kribi for almost a week of vacation.  Ron was interested to see how much progress happened in our absence.  You'll see how much got done in the next post!

December 23

The floor on the lower level of the hostel's split level building is done -- a bit late in the day since the cement truck arrived 3 hours late.  But the whole floor is done in one day!  Then in the night, the neighbor's guard dog left some prints that had to be smoothed out in the morning.



Lower level floor poured; upper level at top right

 Now walk up to the center of the upper level with your back to the wall for the following views...

Preparing the upper level floor - looking right toward CMF Hostel



Looking straight ahead, upper level in foreground, lower level in background



Looking left toward the wall between the hostel and RFIS