We’re moving one step closer to getting our hospitality staff out of the open-air, thatch kitchen and into the cafeteria building. God provided through a generous donation, and this week, the roof is going up on the cafeteria! The hospitality staff has been praying for this.
Calculations? Check.
Tools? Check.
Wood? Check.
Samuel and a couple of the guys have been doing prep work since last week–cutting and planing the wooden beams, putting the finishing touches on the bond beam, etc.
Now they can start raising the roof frame.
As more and more wood went up, more and more men had to be recruited to support it from underneath while it was being affixed into place!
As we have pointed out before, Lemuel’s work, projects and activities serve as the catalyst for relationships and investing in the lives of people.
Here is a flashback to a couple of years ago. The roof for the administrative office was the first roof that Samuel constructed on the Plateau. It was also the roof on which he instructed Gulbert.
Now today, over 4 years later , Gulbert has become an invaluable member and leader on roofing crews. Here he is, working on the cafeteria roof…
Another roof on which Gulbert assisted Samuel was the roof for the Samuel’s Trees cistern. The third member of that construction crew was Robenson.
Now today, as Samuel and Gulbert work on the cafeteria roof, Robenson is investing in two other guys by showing them how to put up a plywood ceiling in the Administrative office…which–in a turn of poetic coincidence–is the same building where Samuel first taught Gulbert roofing skills.
It is so rewarding to see the fruits of investing in people, as well as to see those investments rippling and expanding outward through others. Although community development, construction, reforestation, education, etc, all are what we DO, investing in PEOPLE is the reason we are here.
(PS Investment in progress: As you scroll back through the roofing pictures, you may notice a guy in the background in several of them with a towel stuffed in his cap and hanging down to shield his neck. That’s Charilien, who has been working closely with both Gulbert and Samuel on the cafeteria roof. Who knows where what he is learning–not only about roofing, but even about other subjects that come up in the course of the day–may affect his life and future?)