Day Five: A Day of Laughter

Today, we continued working on our different projects. Cuthbert trusts our group enough that he actually left us on our own at the end of the day, after he had given basic instructions, of course. He also complimented Bob and Robert on different things and he almost hugged Andy. We feel like we have made international peace progress, for sure.

As for our construction jobs, the outside of the church is almost fully painted,








the pipe is placed in the ditch,





the dirt is pretty much spread,





and the rebar is ready for the concrete forms.








Cuthbert had a special project for the dirt spreaders today. There is a really large rock on the worksite that is too big to easily move. He had our group dig it out some and cover it with scrap wood. He plan to hold a bonfire and hopes that the heat from the fire will crack the rock into smaller pieces so it can be removed.








The Ditch Gang worked really hard to get the ditch ready for the pipe to be replaced in it. It involved a lot of manual labor in the hot Belizean sun. Besides actually digging some of the ditch by hand to get the angle right, they also had to attach the concrete pipes together in the ditch with rope, tar, and plastic piping. The whole process was very interesting.














The group joked around a lot during the ditch work, but this afternoon it hit an all-time high when Zac, Michael, and Bob began speaking only in British accents. They lasted a long time (like 4 hours). Needless to say, the conversations were pretty funny. On top of the British accents, they also began calling themselves "the Ditch Boys". Bob developed a song and there is a great video of him singing it with his Ditch Boys.


Tonight was another crusade at the church. The musicians from the previous evenings were not able to make it, so Wesley, Zac, and Michael agreed to accompany Kofi in the praise and worship songs. While these three are amazing musicians individually, lack of any practice together, unfamiliarity with the songs and Caribbean beats, and a horrible sound technician led to one of the funniest musical performances it has been my privilege to hear. At one point, the entire group from Texas, including the three on stage, were cracking up with laughter.



It was definitely an event that one had to hear live to truly appreciate. Thanks to Wesley, Zac, and Michael for having such great attitudes and for being able to laugh at themselves. It was a great night.

Laughter definitely helped break up what could have been a very monotonous day. I can attest to the validity that "laughter is the best medicine."

PS. This was the "Internet Cafe" last night once the Internet was back on at Camalote Camp. There was a lot of laughter in here, as well.









- Julie W.