Last week was an unbelievable week! Twenty adults from from Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania descended upon Zvannieki and changed our lives and living conditions. Amazing! One of our walls was declared a hazard. It was in danger of collapsing. Our landlord declared that it is our responsibility to fix. We had already paid 1000LS (@2000USD) to have one corner of the building’s foundation be exposed, repaired and reinforced – tenants’ responsibility?! – we did not have the thousands necessary to fix the rest of the wall. Enter Roger, George, Baiba, Bill, Gary, Dotty, Carol, Carol P., Bob, Deb, Kathy… They built their own scaffolding by recalling knots learned in the Boy Scouts and then the real work began. Not only was the wall fixed, windows reinforced and screened, our shed received a floor, new doors, locks, shelves and a cupboard, our attic was cleaned and floored and our laundry room was outfitted with shelving. All we could do was stand back and wonder! Our youngest children were confused – who are these people with the funny names? Our youth asked: who will pay them? Others said – our angels are sent direct from heaven!
Everyone helped – the youngest sang for the workers, and everyone 10 years old and older helped carrying lumber, fetching tools, nailing floors and shelves, cooking lunch for forty and cleaning up. This continued for four days. Truly amazing!
But even more important than learning to lay bricks and shelves and floors, was learning and experiencing teamwork at its best. The work was intense, the weather was hot and tempers did not flare. The days were filled with the spirit of love and mutual respect.
We thank God for Pine Street Presbyterian Church and its mission group that chose to help the children at Zvannieki.
