Lucy's timeline

We have been lucky to have an Aidcamps trainee with us on our adventure! Lucy will soon be leading her own project soon for adults so some of you parents could join her :-).

She has been taking a photographic timeline, here she is to tell you all about it....

Hello Rookwood mums, dads, rellies, staff, friends and well-wishers!

We've reached the end of our project at Sevanagala, but before we tell you about the opening ceremony, here are a few photos to give you an idea of just how far we've come in the past two weeks.

I arrived in Sri Lanka with Mr Knight a week before the project was due to begin. We paid a quick visit to the project site. As you can see, the building at that point (although impressive) was little more than a shell, surrounded by bamboo scaffolding and piles of sand.

Once the Rookwood crew arrived, there was a little more plaster on the walls, and the window frames were in - but there was still a long way to go!

The students weren't phased by the massive task ahead of them, and got straight to work (as demonstrated here by Cassie, here on the first of many gruelling sand-sifting shifts!).

Although the work was physically exhausting, there was always a great atmosphere on site. It's amazing how much difference a Disney sing along can make to an otherwise dull chain gang.

Thanks to the students' great digging skills, the builders were able to put up the roof frame and make swift progress fitting the rafters.

 

 

At this stage, it was becoming easier to picture how the pre-school would look, but there were still a myriad of different jobs to do: shrub-clearing; root-digging; mud, sand and rock-shifting; tile-moving; cement-mixing; wall-painting; wood-priming; board-decorating ... And not to mention sand sifting, sand sifting and more sand sifting!

Very soon, it was looking close to completion!

Below, you can see how the building was looking yesterday morning, only a few hours before the opening ceremony. Thanks to the superhuman efforts of the local builders (who worked through the night to make sure the job was done), any last-minute worries were overcome by a sense of excitement as we cleared the site and made the finishing touches...

And here is the completed building!

As you can see, the building is multi-purpose: it has a main classroom for teaching, an extra room for meetings and large doors at the front which fold back and create a mini-theatre!

All this was made possible, not only by the generosity and kindness of the Rookwood staff and families, but by the students' unwavering determination and camaraderie. As an 'outsider', it has been wonderful to witness the group grow and nurture each other as a team. I feel very lucky to have worked with such a bright and enthusiastic group of students who have embraced every opportunity open to them.

Be proud, Rookwood students - the world really is your oyster. I only hope that the next AidCamp is filled with as much energy, and as much fun!

 

 

 

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