More accurately, there is still some work to be done. The outdoor tiling is not in place and the dirt road (provider of a vicious form of parasite to the bare feet of the children) is still awaiting its paving. And there are, I'm sure, some other minor matters to contend with.
But the Grand Opening was held on Sunday, March 26th and the kids are now sleeping in their new beds. And it makes a huge difference...
Still to come? Once we get this part fully completed and can provide a clear financial accounting, we may pass the hat once more for two related projects:
* The more affordable one will be some heavy plumbing work. For the past year, the 80 children have shared a single toilet stall. The new addition has added two more. With another ~$5,000 we could redo the plumbing in the main building and have all six original building stalls working.
* The more pie-in-the-sky idea would be to add lofts and huge windows to the two old rooms, which would provide much more space, air, and light. This one would be more expensive, and as my time in Congo is running short, it might be harder to fund.
But then again...maybe we can do both. Given that we started fundraising on November 1, work started on January 2nd, and the kids had a new home before April, I'm starting to think that the unlikely is more than possible in this case.
I'll leave you with a video look at how the project unfolded:
But the Grand Opening was held on Sunday, March 26th and the kids are now sleeping in their new beds. And it makes a huge difference...
Still to come? Once we get this part fully completed and can provide a clear financial accounting, we may pass the hat once more for two related projects:
* The more affordable one will be some heavy plumbing work. For the past year, the 80 children have shared a single toilet stall. The new addition has added two more. With another ~$5,000 we could redo the plumbing in the main building and have all six original building stalls working.
* The more pie-in-the-sky idea would be to add lofts and huge windows to the two old rooms, which would provide much more space, air, and light. This one would be more expensive, and as my time in Congo is running short, it might be harder to fund.
But then again...maybe we can do both. Given that we started fundraising on November 1, work started on January 2nd, and the kids had a new home before April, I'm starting to think that the unlikely is more than possible in this case.
I'll leave you with a video look at how the project unfolded:
And what's next? Well, maybe--just maybe--toilets...We'll be in touch if we try to tackle this one.
