It’s amazing how different the site looks after just one week!  We were finally able to pour the floors of Building 1 on Saturday and the bricklayers have been building upwards ever since.  Though we won’t be able to pour the floors for Building 2 and Building 3 until next week, it’s a giant morale-booster to see the frames for the windows and doors starting to emerge with each positioned brick. 

Unfortunately, this part of the construction process requires much less manual labour, therefore we regrettably have to let some of our labourers go. Only hiring local labour to provide employment for residents of Hijos de Luya, makes this tough decision that much more difficult.    

On Tuesday we also received a much-appreciated invitation to eat lunch at the temporary day care center with some of our future pupils.  The temporary facility currently caps attendance at 25 ‘bambinos’ who have already started to benefit from some of the services that will eventually be available to roughly 90 children in the new school.  Needless to say, they are absolutely beautiful and getting to spend an hour with them at lunch makes one realize what these projects are really all about. 

We were asked to sponsor uniforms for a class of 29 to compete in the Hijos de Luya 2008 Olympics, held at a local school. A relatively inexpensive gesture turned out to be an extremely rewarding one as we presented the class with their “Argentina” uniforms and they in turn performed a few poems to show their gratitude. We then watched the opening ceremonies of the Hijos de Luya 2008 Olympics, cheering on our team.