Week 1

Our first week here has come and gone and we survived. It was a good week, maybe not so much weather wise, but we had a good, energetic bunch of mostly young volunteers, meaning in their 20's, and got some work done. We had to deal with rain at the beginning of the week, and one night, had a good thunder and lightening storm, but no wind to accompany it. It's been on the cool side too, jackets were worn most of the week, but this morning we have sunshine. A couple of nights the temp went down to about -3C and so some of the RVs had frozen water lines in the morning. Most of our jobs are close to camp and are at the drywall, taping and mudding stage. One house got painted this week too. I haven't even seen all the homes yet, but we can still see LOTS of evidence of the destruction the tornado caused. Things are mostly cleaned up but there are many, many homes still looking very sad. We have one new build that is about 20 miles away, but we didn't work there much this week. We have a good long term crew, and so that helps Kerry out a lot, but he does still do pick-ups and stuff. He has been to some meetings and keeps finding out more all the time about how things work and what the processes are. We are also working with plans to move the camp to a different place and so there is work to be done on that as well. The couple that was here helping with the transition between project directors were a big help in aquainting us with the area, as well as all the players involved, and the clients as well. They left for home on Thursday morning and so we are now on our own. I have been filling in in different areas, I am not doing as much of the office work as I normally would as there is a local gentleman who comes in a couple of times a week to do that for us. He has been here since the beginning of the project and that is how he is volunteering his time with MDS. I help with breakfast, and put the lunch fixings out, clean bathrooms, and do what needs doing, or go along with Kerry when he needs me to. So far I haven't been bored. I am not sure how this will all work, so I will give an explanation of the pictures. From the top: Getting ready to go out to the jobsites in the morning. Next, Kerry and his construction foreman, and a crew leader going over the days work, and making plans (usually at 6AM). Then a picture of the cooks making breakfast, and last a picture of the group that was here this week.