Coming to an end

Today and yesterday Isaac and I have been up at the orphanage trying to get things finished in preparation for school opening on Monday. On arriving on Wednesday the first thing I noticed  was that the old wall had been removed and the foundations for replacing it were underway. It really is starting to take shape and look good now. 

I noticed that one of the teachers there was wearing a Liverpool shirt and I said to him that i supported  Liverpool too. On closer inspection I saw that it was in fact MY shirt that i had donated 5 or so weeks previously  to the orphans. It seems he fancied it for himself. I made a comment to Isaac and I think the guy cottoned on  and soon removed it. This kind of pissed me off, considering every  teacher at the school who is volunteering along with Isaac and I have been asking for pay, uniforms and anything else. If he had wanted clothes himself he only need ask. I’d of been happy to give him the shirt of my back. The manner in which he went about the whole thing was completely wrong and he then has  the audacity to ask me for  more stuff an hour later!!! The guys at  the school don’t realise that we do not have an endless supply of money. The majority of work left to finish is now being funded by Isaac and I personally. We therefore want to get the essentials done e.g. the walls, rather than waste money on lab coats for the staff to “put their chalk so they don’t get dirty”. We worked until around 4 and then I spent most of the night online pleading for more donations.

At around 11pm I received a text from another of the teachers there which read.

“Hi Joel, the teachers told me to remind you white jackets for teachers you promise. gd night.”

Grammar aside, I was horrified. After saying to them that day it wasn’t going to happen as we can barely afford the wall the guy went above me to get someone else to try their luck! I understand that they want the best, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Once I leave I expect the subsequent group of students to continue the work and eventually the whole  building will be refurbished.

I didn’t sleep particularly well last night and woke up already stressed about budgeting for today’s work. I got there around 10 and spoke to all the teachers telling them what was going to happen. They said they were very thankful of all we had done so far and that they understand where i’m coming from. No longer than 30 minutes later and one of them was complaining that the paint we bought, that they picked out for us, was not right. I decided to leave early to prevent killing someone. I think people are loosing sight of why we started this project in the first place. The children at the school (As gay as that sounds).

I’m going to just power through for the next few days in order to get it complete. I can’t wait for the children to see it completed and eagerly anticipate the show they have set up for us. 

Before

Where we are currently. The flash is broken on my camera.