Catching up on several days of work at Hope Africa University:
I John 5:13, "I've written this letter to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you will be assured and know without a doubt that you have eternal life. Since we have this confidence, we can also have great boldness before him, for if we present any request agreeable to his will, he will hear us..." Friends, keep praying.
Thursday, August 29
Miguel:
Thursday was a good day. Thank you all for your prayers. We felt bathed in blessings all day!
Holes
The holes are nearly all done, and done right. And who dug them? Only the young guys! I went to Jean Baptiste and we agreed to pray about whether to release these young men or not. I put trust in GOD and slept in peace that night. The next morning Jean Baptiste had a little talk with them in their language. Before I knew it, they were in the boreholes digging away. “Control, control!” is the word they use to emphasize excellence. At the end of the day, they were all happy, dancing, and chanting and having a great time. What a miracle!
Steel Pipe
We searched Bujumbura most of the day, but now the steel pipe is all here on site, all 3078’/ 939 meters of it, a total of 156 lengths, 6 meters each. This is another answer to prayer. Gaspard, Desire, Jean Baptiste and I had good fellowship on the search and we found the best price in the quality and quantity we needed. Did I mention they could deliver?! We will cover it with a coat of anti-oxidation solution in the morning and have it ready to go.
Sonotube Boxes
About 10 carpenters were busy all day cutting and nailing together the wood planks to make the boxes that will hold the pipe and cement in place while the cement cures. They built about a third of the boxes and cut towers of boards that just need assembled. By noon tomorrow, they will be finished. Then we will set them and line them all up by the end of the day.
More good news, the exchange rate is back up to 3000 BF to the dollar. It dropped down to about 1850BF the day after we got here. We will jump on this rate before it changes again.
I think that is all for today team. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. What an amazing experience. Thanks to GOD!
Monday, September 2
Miguel:
AMAHORO (in Kinyarwanda means, PEACE) I-TEC family. GOD is good!
All is well and running smoothly. We closed off last week very happy and positive with a lot accomplished. Not everything goes according to plan but one thing I have learned working with I-TEC is you have to stay flexible and adjust to whatever is put in front of you. Trust in GOD, all the time, for everything! We had a lot of people working on a lot of different projects so a lot got accomplished!
Holes
All holes are dug and to be honest, better than I expected. They look beautiful with plenty of space to work comfortable and make adjustments. The “young’uns” really stepped it up and I’ve got to say I love these kiddos now! Look forward every morning to greet each one and see their positive attitudes as they start their work. How amazing is our LORD! Just some days ago I was ready to give up on them and now I can’t wait to start my day with them. Thank you so much to all of you for your prayers. HIS grace is amazing. We ended our work Friday by showing them some pictures of the Kibuye project and explaining the importance of excellence in every step of the work. We explained that it started with them and those holes they dug. Was awesome to see them get so excited to be part of this project. All of them expressed interest in learning more about solar. Most of them came back this morning, ready to help in any way they can.
Finished and ready for setting and alignment! There was an army of carpenters here Friday spread over a large area, some cutting some nailing some building. Awesome to see and all the boxes were built by the end of the day all 140 of them! Have some great video and pictures of the work being done.
Steel Pipe
This morning a big team showed up. They will mix and pour a layer of cement to the bottom of the holes about 2” thick to have a level base to set the boxes on. There is a team of men women and the ”young’uns” here to help and everyone has a great attitude! Feeling very, very positive and super blessed to be part of it. Thank you I-TEC family friends and loved ones for all you prayers. We love you all and will keep pushing forward striving for excellence while building lasting relationships all for HIS glory. Imana ishimwe!
Tuesday, September 3
Miguel:
I-TEC Family, another good day! End of the day Tuesday and my whole body is aching! Ha ha ha, love this feeling. We had a really big crew made up of masons, carpenters, welders, laborers, (men, women, and “young’uns”) and of course our chicas, working hard all day. It’s awesome to see the smiles everywhere you turn.
Masons
A team is filling the boreholes with a thin layer of cement
to have level ground to set boxes and posts. They have a big pile where 5 guys mix the
concrete and then fill plastic containers cut in half and form a human assembly
line and pass the containers one person to the next until it gets to the hole
where a mason spreading and leveling it out. Then they move on to the next hole. It’s pretty awesome to see. We also set the first and last post of the
first array and filled the sono box up. It
will cure overnight and we will continue setting the rest of the posts to that
line.Carpenters
They brought all the boxes and set in front of the holes and started placing them and lining them up in the holes. We have string lines everywhere! It got a bit confusing trying to explain what we wanted and everyone had an opinion on how to get it done. I stepped away and let them do what they do. At the end, it seemed like a lot of time was wasted. So, I suggested that tomorrow we try a different technique that they all agreed it would go much faster. Awesome. They have a bunch of long stakes ready to go and we will start early in the morning plumbing the rest of the line. It’s an awesome team of older gentlemen so it’s very interesting seeing how they work. Look forward to tomorrow working alongside them.
Desire is running a great crew! He has all the horizontal pipe welded together and was working on grinding and cleaning up the seams. His helpers also welded cross brackets on the pipe to insure a secure, strong post when the concrete cures. We have them all numbered and separated for each array. They loved the welding glasses you sent along and all take turns using them. Even other welders working nearby came over to see and test them out. “Original!!” was what they all expressed.
Laborers
The work force is making it all happen! And you know who is leading them? “The young’uns!” Awesome to see them take so much pride in what they do. You could see and feel the positivity as they do everything with a smile! Ha ha ha! They start the day filling and carrying sacks of stone, sand, and cement and make a huge pile and then the ladies come in carrying containers of water and they start mixing and making concrete. Love hearing them bark out loud as they muscle the heavy load from the ground on to their shoulders and start marching. Whenever Jean Baptiste is not watching I join in the fun, but sooner or later he finds me and gives me a supervisor job to do (not so much fun). Ha ha ha! They work hard all day helping every trade do the labor. Nora and the girls stay busy all day refilling water containers and every other water break they bring out iced tea. They love that. They made up the human assembly line who delivered the concrete to the holes and Sonotube boxes. Everyone had a part in setting those posts today. At the end of the day, we celebrated as we topped off the last Sonotube box with concrete. Our celebration was cut short when we were reminded we still had a huge pile of cement to get rid of... So we all jumped on it and in no time we had the remaining boreholes lined with the concrete. Then we celebrated again. One of my favorite times of the day is “tura he gege” (or something like that). “We finished!” Then, clean up time. They wash the buckets, shovel tools, and themselves. Put on their clean clothes and lock up the tools. And that’s the end of the work day! We give thanks for another successful day. Thank you GOD!
We had the privilege to have Mr John Riches stop by last night for teatime and fellowship with Rachel, Sarah, and a friend. While the chicas had girl time together, we loved spending time with John and hearing all his amazing stories. We have really felt encouraged by his testimony and wait patiently for the next time he visits. Please keep him and his family in prayer. What an inspiration.
Also, Mr Dale is back on campus after a safe and successful trip up to Kibuye Hope Hospital. We missed him at dinnertime and running into him around here. Caught him looking sharp in his power suit today! (We know he is staying busy with all those “power meetings”!) Looking forward to fellowship with him again and catching up after our time apart.
We all send our love! Please continue to pray for everyone here, for the containers to be offloaded from the ship, released, and to arrive safe and on time here at HAU. Looking forward to when the next team comes and I have a feeling it will only get better.
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