Tuesday - More gifts and visits to the family homes

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This morning we learned that we had already met our goals for construction on the school, which was great news! So all the work today was a bonus. Today was the hottest day we´ve experienced so far, and all our construction jobs were in the sun. We were carrying gravel to the cement-mixing area, mixing concrete, breaking up the dirt floor of the school with pick-axes and carrying concrete blocks to be set with cement on the school walls. We´ve all grown stronger and are learning construction skills.

After lunch, we went on a short walking tour of the community. We stopped at three houses and chatted with the owners. The first house was the house of one of the little boys at the school named Alvarito, who looks like a mini Sylvester Stallone. His house is quite substantial and new, with tiled floors and wood furniture. His mother welcomed us and told us about her two children, a girl of 11 and Alvarito, 5. She told us that she and her husband had worked in Costa Rica for four years in order to afford the house, leaving her children behind with her mother. Her husband is a mason and had built their house himself. The second house was the house of two boys who attend the school. Their father farms 36 acres, sells his honey and owns cattle for hire for work in the neighbourhood. The last house belonged to Don Agustin, a poet who comes to work on the school every day.

Once we returned to the school. we distributed more gifts to the children. Each child received two gifts from our collection of shoes, flip flops, clothing, combs, soccer shirts, baseball caps, and rain ponchos, and everyone received candy. It was a good day!

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