Teshie School Project – Volunteer Diary - Day 10

Day 10 - Thursday 20 Aug. 2009
A power outage in the suburb of Teshie meant that the team found themselves without electricity on arrival at site this morning. Despite this setback they quickly got to work to ensure all outstanding projects are completed by Friday.

Electrical Progress:
Electrical progress was hampered today due to the lack of power on site which was out of our control. A generator was delivered to site but developed problems within a short time. The crack team of electricians made best use of battery operated tools to try to get as much work completed as possible and stayed on late on site to meet schedule. By 6pm the power still had not been restored by ECG, which has resulted in electrical progress being set back about 6 hours. All fingers are crossed that we will be fully restored by Friday morning.

Painting Progress:
The Technical School was the main focus of work today for a large group from the painting team. Upstairs, some of the classrooms required some touch ups but were fully completed by evening. On the exterior walls primer and first coat were applied. Five of the interior classrooms were also fully completed today. Painting of the 15ft high ceilings downstairs meant a few sore necks and arms by the evening. Work tomorrow will concentrate on completing four large workshops, the hallways and ceilings downstairs in the Technical School. In the Canteen area work was fully completed today with a small group of painters applying final coats to the interior walls.

IT Progress:

Today was the final day of the 4 day Web development course for teachers. Again the lack of power had an effect on the class as battery power on laptops only lasted ‘til lunchtime. A large bar of Cadbury's chocolate was was used as the prize in a quiz about the HTML course. Laughter and excitement rang through the classroom as the teachers tried to outdo each other to get the golden square of chocolate for a correct answer. Later in the day the presentation of course certificates was made. Again there was a huge amount of excitement as certificates were individually given to the course participants with the IT team amused by the various dances as teachers approached them to receive their prized piece of paper. Tomorrow a group of pupils from the school will attend a course on Writer. Here's hoping we have power for the laptops.

General:
Treats of the day were Doritos and chocolate Swiss roll. There were no complaints from the group even though the treats are not so original anymore! There are only so many goodies available in the supermarket! Today we have a very special message to Sofie Kingham, daughter of David Kingham. Happy 7th Birthday Sofie from everyone in Teshie but especially from Daddy. Have a lovely day and Daddy will see you on Sunday.

A report by Sharyn McMenamin (ICT Group) and Michael O'Connor (ESBI).