A boat was loaded with what it would carry, get as close as possible to St. Helene, then the materials were manually off-loaded from the boat to a small barge. The barge was towed in by a small dory, and then manually off-loaded onto the only truck on the island. That truck then went up over the only 'road' on the island from the north side (where the water is deeper and allowed the boat to get closer to shore) to the south side and was manually off-loaded to the site of the new school. Phew! Talk about hard labor and persistence! And this process was repeated over and over again.
Here's a dory pulling the barge in to shore.
Here's the boat heading back to Roatan as some kids from St. Helene watch while standing next to the first shipment of blocks.
But now, after countless mini-trips, enough material was delivered that construction of the school has actually begun! These first photos were sent to us on December 9th.
A gas-powered cement mixer is used to prepare mortar for the blocks. Can you see one of the kids watching from up in the tree?
As of the day before this posting, this is the latest picture we have of the progress on the school. Weather permitting, it should be ready for the kids to start their new school year on February 1st! Everyone is very excited!
As 2010 draws to a close, we are energized by this and other positive things happening at ALF. Particularly, we are excited as we notice that the 3 individual branches within our foundation have started to inter-connect. At the request of the good people in Woodville, Texas, the Discovery's teen training is starting there in January. Two people we know from Roatan have attended our adult Discovery program in Austin, and now a school in Woodville has committed to becoming "pen pals" with the kids at the school in St. Helene to share culture and ideas. As people become aware of and help each other...it quickly becomes a small world and we learn how inter-connected our lives are.
