Corn, Corn, Corn, and more Corn

We spent the last week or two buying corn for the rest of the year. To say it was and adventure would be putting it mildly and the pictures below tell only part of the story. If you read the blog regularly you know that corn is the main staple of our diet here. We feed our 54 resident students around 20 kg per day, so it was important that we buy corn, and lots of it, now while the prices are low. As of today we have purchased around 5,000 kg.

The people are eager to sell us their corn. They arrive on bikes or walk long distances with heavy corn on their heads to sell us even a small amount of corn. However, we are saving them perhaps two days or more of travel by driving to their homes. The drives are long and hard on our small truck, sometimes driving down roads that I am sure have not been traveled in months. In our five trips I think we saw a total of five other vehicles at some point on the journey.

Thanks to our 27 sponsors we have the funds to purchase enough corn now for the remainder of the year and a little more. Without our sponsors I am not sure what we would have done. You are all a blessing.

Collecting corn at our first stop

1000 kg in a small truck

On this trip we were joined by Br. Jose Roberto, Provincial from Brazil. He is pictured above balancing the gallon jug on his head. He helped us measure and load our truck on this particular day. Thanks Br. Jose, and all the brothers and friends in Brazil, for all your help.

Families waiting on the side of the trail for us.
Some come by on bikes to sell their corn

Corn is measured using a gallon container, around 5kg

We draw big crowds wherever we go

Our take after 4 days of corn buying, about 4,000 kg

Each sack is measured individually

Br. Fabian with fan club

The trail they wanted me to drive down,
no problem there's a road there, really

Poor beyond words in the bush

In other news, new windows were installed on one of the classrooms making a big difference in the look.

Roquito loves the new windows

Showing off new windows

A Quick Bee Story and more

The work continues in Amatongas while the students are away on holiday this week. Part of the excitement for this week was the demolition of two huge bee hives. The bee hives had millions of bees and was making it difficult to complete work on the back of the school building. Fortunately, we found a bee expert, or at least someone crazy enough to climb the ladder, nearby who helped Br. Angel remove the bees. I wish we could share the photos of the extraction, but the operation took place at night and I didn't want to be anywhere close by anyway for obvious reasons. As we often say here, only in Amatongas.

Back of school building

The two huge bee hives the morning after demolition

Bees returned briefly after the extraction

 Work was recently completed recently on a new infirmary. Lighting and running water were installed in two of the rooms which will be used as an infirmary in the future.

New Infirmary with lighting and running water

 Our beans are doing well and will provide much needed assistance in feeding our students and maybe even produce some funds as well. Another good rain would be nice.

Part of our three hectares of beans looking good

 We spent a few days last week buying corn from the locals in the area. It was a great experience driving and walking through the bush to visit local farmers. This not only helps us buy corn for the rest of the year at a cheaper price than we can buy in the city, but also helps the people who save money by not having to transport the corn themselves. We need 20 kg of corn each day to feed our resident students, so we will be buying more corn this week.

On the path to buy corn

One of the families selling corn

Stop #1 on our corn buying adventure

Brother Fabian takes a break while buying corn

Historic Day

It was indeed a historic day in Amatongas when the new name of our school was painted on the front of the building. In case you are wondering the top portion must be included in the school name here, "Community Secondary School". Basically, it means we are a diocesan school, but the government pays the teacher salaries. Of course, the "Sacred Heart" in the middle needs no explanation. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart community cross will be painted on the building as well.

First picture of school name on front of building

School name being painted on front of building

New school library taking shape

Teacher work room under renovation

Teacher work room

Students getting in last minute studying before exams

Resident students helping in the farm before the holidays

Exam Week

The students are taking first semester exams this week before having a one week, well deserved break before the second semester. As work moves to the second floor, students moved into the third floor new classrooms to take their exams.

Students taking semester exams in  new classroom

Professor proud of his work and thankful for new classroom

Why they call it "writing exams" here

Desks Arrive in Amatongas

Since our arrival in Amatongas 13 months ago, we have dreamed of having new desks so our students would not have to sit on the floor. It is hard to put into words our feelings and reactions when we saw the arrival of 100 new desks. Thanks be to God for this gift and for everyone working at and supporting África Directo and Fundación Profesor Uría. You really have made dreams come true.

New desks arrive in Amatongas

Kids line up to help move new desks

Moving desks into classrooms

Students help to move desks 

Students test out the new desks

A classroom with new paint, lighting, chalk board and desks

Another new classroom

The Lights Come On in Amatongas

Just take a look at the difference between the third and second floor classrooms in the pictures below. Do you think this could make an impact on how children study?

Work is almost complete on the third floor and we are waiting on new desks to arrive on Friday. Workers now move to the second floor.

Third floor lights come on

Looking like a school

Students are in awe over new lighting

First, you must tear down a few walls

Old electrical junction box

 A short pig story: Our first sow gave birth to three little pigs a few days ago. It was not without complications, however. A vet, actually a lab technician, had to be called in to give assistance. The original litter was actually five and we thought we had lost the mother. Fortunately, medicine was administered and all are doing much better now.

Our three newest little pigs

Malaria and Construction Update

This would not be a real blog if I didn't include some reality of the place we live. After 13 1/2 months my luck has run out. Yesterday it was confirmed through a blood test that I indeed have the dreaded malaria parasites running around in my blood. It was only a matter of time really as it seems everyone here eventually gets malaria. I was the last holdout of the brothers in Amatongas. Fortunately for me, it appears this is a mild strain and I recognized it early on. I am presently on my second day of a three day regimen of medication and other than a slight headache, soreness throughout my body and some irritating diarrhea, I seem to be doing better.

I have to say this though. I have mentioned Bill Gates before on this blog, not that I have anything against him. However, if the goal of his foundation is to eradicate malaria in the next two decades is going to succeed then perhaps he should start with investigating how the small rural villages in Africa don't even have access to tests and medication. The brothers here had to go find and purchase malaria tests and medications so we could at least have them for our boarding students.

Anyway, on to much better and happier news. It has been a pleasing sight to see the rapid changes to our school in the last few weeks. Many days one can find as many as 15 workers on campus painting, chipping away at concrete or mixing cement. The students and teachers are anxiously awaiting and anticipating better days ahead. Thanks again to our friends at África Directo and Fundación Profesor Uría for your hard work. You will never be forgotten in Amatongas.

New blackboards painted on all classroom walls

Six new fluorescent lights installed in all classrooms

New outlets installed in all classrooms

New bathrooms for teachers

Outside of school offices being painted

Looking forward to better days ahead

Installation of new electrical lines is hard work

The rains finally arrive in Amatongas

More Classrooms

In addition to repairing classrooms, we are also adding classrooms. The workers began putting a wall up in the middle of one large room in order to transform it into two classrooms.

A wall being installed to create more classrooms

The workers also made iron doors from scratch. These doors are put on the outside of the doorways to provide extra security. We have delayed getting new desks until we put up the new doors for obvious reasons.

New metal doors must be installed first for security

Our two bookshelf library

Another reason why we are here

Our guys collecting fire wood for the cooks