leaps and bounds

we spent the morning in the workshop, drilling. it seemed to go much faster than we had expected – we felt so positive! we created the perfect production line, so efficient, so intense and silently productive. catherine fetching a section from the table in front, measuring, scoring, measuring and scoring; guy collecting the steel from the same table in front, positioning it on the smaller drill press, drilling the pilot holes, flipping it over and drilling 2 more; me collecting the drilled baluster, carrying it to gareth at the larger drill press, lacing the pilot holes with cutting paste, gareth drilling the 13mm holes, flipping it over and drilling the other 2, me dusting off the shavings and carrying it to the ready-to-go stack and then to the quickly diminishing pile to replenish catherine’s stock on the table in front…

we left for kwa thema just after 10am and arrived on site to find our anc youth league team hard at work. they have been so fantastic and so surprisingly willing and enthusiastic. i cant believe that a group of young guys would be so keen to work so hard for no reward at all – other than the obvious reward of giving back to their community and in turn creating a space that they can have a little ownership over of course! we always give them a little to eat and drink which i guess makes it all a little more worth their while.

the site was looking so clean and just as we had always romantically pictured it. stark, hard, brutal and sparkling! we all felt so good. we had arrived with a car full of tools and equipment and knew that we were going to take big leaps today.

while the anc guys cleaned, we began the measuring process for our balustrade. guy had arranged an automatic leveling machine from his father, so he set it up, found a datum and began the leveling. again, we were surprised by how smoothly everything went – the marking was complete in an hour. the drilling was less successful as the batteries for the drill were not charged, but we left the site feeling as though we had accomplished a huge task.

the germans and hannah arrived while we were drilling – we were uncertain as to how they would react considering their responses to our design last week and hannah’s huge concerns for the re-thinking of our intentions. we seem to be rather defensive and reluctant to change, but in fairness to us, it seems as though our dreams for the project may not be entirely realized – we felt very disheartened and demoralized. we left the site feeling low again. the drive back was emotional and heavy.