Up to the MARK

Brick work up to the 3m height

Gordo and his team have done an excellent job to get the shell of the school up to its full height of 3.00m. This has been an incredible undertaking, with all the cement being hand mixed, much of the water being carried over 200m distance when the taps had no water in them, not to mention carrying brick by brick from where the lorry got bogged down in the muck! The wheel barrows only sunk further into the mud!

Well done

View from the 'kitchen'

We carry 'HOPE'

A life to be rescued

I was asked to take a few photos for the blog site on the Rescue Project. I have to say I have no fear of going in and taking photos but I find it a little awkward taking photos where there is so much need and heartache, it is like an invasion of privacy. But to try and capture the reality I will endeavour to take more photos at specific times.

The only time I had available was just after 13.00 hours, generally a time when everybody has had their lunch and will take a nap. The photo here, is of a young lad, at first off you think he has maybe hurt his hand but then watching him for a few seconds you realise he is sniffing. 

It is either thinners (white spirits) or glue for shoes. I decided to approach him and ask if he minded if I take a photo, ‘sure why not’. He looked at me and it was obvious that he was well high, eyes glazed over, head lost in the effects and the warm feeling had brought a smile to his face.

I took the photo chatted a little and as we took off on the motorbike a young man approached surround by a few of his ‘side-kicks’. The guy had or was involved in some of the local gangs, sporting a stump where his hand used to be and a few tattoos for good measure. He throw a bag of marijuana at us, it was a gesture of defiance which I refused to ingratiate with a photo.....sorry....

It is hard not to get emotionally involved, Rebeca my wife always wants to adopt about half the kids at the Living Word School. As I drove away I felt so sad and frustrated, life isn’t meant to be like this!

We will, we are making a difference!

Oh, I could crush a grape!

Progress report! It is amazing how things are going in the New District. The foundations have been laid, and the structure is beginning to take shape.

I have to say I get really excited and nervous at the same time, this is a stupendously massive undertaking the Amazon is one of the most expensive places per meter squared for construction. Why? I hear you ask, everything has to be imported, brought up river. At the moment we are in the rainy season and the area where we are working in the New District is very close to a river, which has caused the road in to become water logged, this has hampered a little the access to the site but not the progress.
We hope to have the Living Word School in the New District open by the end of February 2013. This would be a miraculous feat and we ask that you would partner with us in prayer so that this dream could come to place. I am often surprised at how God raises people up to support the work here in Maues.  One faithful supporter comes from Texas in the USA. I have never preached or had the opportunity to tell of what God is doing in Maues in the States but God put it on a man’s heart to sow back into Brazil. In the morning he was asking God for an opportunity and by the afternoon we had met at the departure lounge of Manaus’s Eduardo Gomes International Airport. How incredible is that! Please pray for the work here in Maues but please also expect and be on the lookout for those doors to be opened and presented to you too. I can’t be everywhere all at once.......I’ve stopped trying too! But we together can get the news out there and be the links that bring it all together.
 

Brick work up to 1.70m

Outlines and trespassing

Foundations and infill......8X57meters

The foundations are already laid and the outline of the school is already beginning to take shape....in my head anyway. It has been tough work and all credit to Gordo and his team as they have worked around the clock (when it isn’t raining). The entrance to the site is over some soft ground which has increased the workload substantially. It means that all the sand has had to be wheel barrowed closer to where the foundations are before the cement is mixed. The bricks had to be left off 100m from where they are going to be used. It is going to be a real lugging match; when it rains, the wheel barrow will be useless and it will be six bricks at a time. I’ve been here before, it is a lot of effort everyday and being on site everyday you can’t see the progress you’ve made. God bless and keep them. We are at the height of the rainy season, the word on the street is that it is going to be worse than 2009. The ‘road’ into the site is nearly impassable; I’m getting passed on my motorbike with a few slips and slides with muddy boots to show! The lorry is only making it in with 2m² of sand and has had to be pulled out several times but we have found a back way into the site which could be the solution.....there might be a question of trespassing....hmmm

Gordo's team

............an idea

THE 'road' IN

Some prices

Bricks              1000 bricks      R$650.00

Cement            42kg bag          R$ 28.00

Iron Rods        12m length        R$ 24.00

Sand                1m²                  R$ 60.00

Gravel             1m²                   R$120.00

Labour             Gordo+team    R$6,000.00

1^st phase Construction up to the ceiling level R$30,000

GORDO!

GORDO

I have known Gordo for nine years. He is a builder here in Maues and is very fast and efficient at building walls, houses.......you name it! Gordo has been contracted to do the first stage of the school’s construction, leaving the shell of the school erected at ceiling height ready to receive the roofing.

Gordo marked out the site and on the Sunday a team of men from the church dug 60X60X60cm foundation holes for the base supports. It was heavy and hot work as it has been raining all week but the comradery and the sense of fun has made the hand blistering work pass quicker than otherwise.

blisteringly good fun

diesel power

It is incredible to stand here in the heat with the sweat running down my back and smell the diesel fumes as this mechanical beast makes short work of the top soil and overgrowth. In such a short space of time half the land, it is a massive area but it is only half of the land has been cleared.