Well, what a day! Not your usual party - no sweets, very little playtime and lots of hard work but gifts of time and goodwill, plenty of friends, lots of laughter and memories for life.
It all started very early (for a Saturday) with everyone rushing for their paint rollers and trays. The first coat of PVA was started, inside and out. The girls handled the outside with amazing enthusiasm and demonstrated unbelievable commitment and painting skills!
The Moms tackled the inside with equal fervour and quickly discovered that painting on bare concrete blocks was something they never wanted to do again, as paint got sucked in and holes had to be painstakingly filled with small paintbrushes (the girls came in handy here).
And then...we discovered that the second lot of donated paint was actually enamel paint (this became obvious when water wouldn't wash the paint off the girls and kids, who were pretty much spattered from head to toe by now). A well timed call from the teachers, who were en route, had them popping in at the hardware to buy another 15l of enamel paint and 5l of turps! As it turns out, enamel paint is probably more suitable for a creche as little hand prints can easily be cleaned off - so the pain of painting with enamel paint (harder to get on, doesn't wash off anything, instant light headedness from the fumes) was not all in vain! In the midst of the Enamel Paint Crisis, 2 Phakamisa guests from America arrived, were promptly handed a paintbrush and paint tray and had an initiation to South Africa by fire.
Whilst the painting was being sorted out by the Moms, the Dads were hard at work doing Woodwork and Plumbing! Hook racks for little bags and facecloths were assembled, a wash trough was installed and inside taps secured. Not to mention creating a rock reinforcement for the house foundations!
Around lunchtime, the girls were 'let out' for playtime and much fun was had with all the neighbourhood kids!
A few more hours of paint fumes and then it was all over, bar the shouting ...
3 comments:
Today has left me with a warm feeling in my soul: being a part of a whole group of adults and kids willingly 'mucking in' (and working like dogs!) for 6 hours straight, to help someone else; seeing my daughter and her friends so capably take on the huge task at hand and launch into it with such enthusiasm and dedication; my son happily playing soccer in the street with a whole group of the local boys and a ball made of plastic bags is left with a better understanding of other people's lives. It was a great day.
Well done parents and girls... you are all so wonderful.
Today's group (monday) were outstanding your art was beautiful and has most certainly added a ray of happiness
WELL DONE
XX
Mrs Roberts
It looks amazing!!!!!
Painting the creche was a fantastic idea
well done to everyone who helped
Rach P
xxx
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