Day 7

Friday 10th July

Getting up this morning was made easier by being up for the best part of the night with an aggressively blocked nose. Zee told us on Thursday that after a couple of days on site its only natural that a few members of the team start to feel ill. It is a shame that my healthy start to Ethiopian life has ended, but I was lucky compared to poor Ashley who was properly ill last night, meaning he couldn't come with us. Most of the team have got colds now actually.

Today's thought for the day was brought to us by Katie. It was a very relevant piece all about us making a difference, in which she told us the story of the man who saved starfish left on the beach. I really enjoyed it as it reminded us of how, while there are many people we can't help on this trip, the  people that we can help will be much happier and safer.

I decided to work on the community team today so that this week I will have spent 2 days there and 2 days at the school. This turned out to be a great decision as our team gelled instantly and worked hard for each other. Today was a day of bricklaying, which was accompanied by Sam's fine soundtrack of our native music - namely Snow Patrol and to David's delight, U2. The Ethiopian locals gave us a truly amazing hand with our jobs, passing blocks to the bricklayers and carrying 50kg bags of cement across their shoulder blades in a way that would put even Declan and Tom to shame!

The bricklaying was difficult for me as the bricks done were in high places and it required good communication with the builders to always do the bricks they wanted done, and it was harder to be resourceful with the cement as it dropped off more readily. To add to this I was also worried about falling off the elevated platforms (concrete blocks stacked on the floor), so it was a fine balancing act; but everyone played their part with the job. When I wasn't working, I was enjoying the beautiful day.  Myself and Brian took lots of photos with the young kids here who were so sweet.

We took a well earned coffee break at about 11:30am, and I would be surprised if I ever have a better one. Rachel and Hiatz (one of the local girls) showed off their knack for dancing while we were fed delicious bread and popcorn. 

Hiatz and Netsame dancing at the coffee ceremony

We all contributed to the entertainment with a short rendition of "I'll tell me ma". The community made a big deal of coming down to see all of us and Rachel delighted them with an amazing jive performance of Shake, Rattle and Roll. 

Rachel providing coffee time entertainment

It was one of those moments where you could not help but join in with it. Quote of the day goes to Declan for shouting, "Dance with me Scotty!"

We finished our work at about 3:30pm and we were so delighted to have finished the job, at least for the weekend. We then transferred to the school and helped the rest of the team shovel some dirt away from the toilet block. It was heavy work but very rewarding to not have to worry about excessively muddy boots. We then played some football in the school yard with the local kids who turned out in force to see us. 

Football match with the local kids

The maverick Peter Watson had a typically mixed day scoring a looped back heel finish against me in nets, before hitting a child square in the face with the ball with a classic Watson 'toe poke' from a yard away. Fortunately the young boy was perfectly fine and the apology was sealed with a selfie.

Peter's post-apology selfie

When we returned back to the guest house we found out that David had been concealing something all day... Today was his 43rd birthday!! The leaders had already found this out earlier in the day via Facebook- and so we were ready with a beautiful cake to celebrate! 

Happy Birthday David!!

Tonights entertainment was courtesy of Bryan, Stuart and Daniel. We played family fortunes with the wording of the survey doing its usual job of frustrating everyone, though my team was victorious. We then played a game of Mafia. Fiona exposed her ruthless side as she killed off fellow Mafia member Sam to prevent herself from being detected. Afterwards I went up to Sam and Daniel's room where the rest of most of our team from the day met up and had snacks and chatted. Probably one of my best days yet.

Post by Harry Adair