fun in the sun, Ivorian Style

Last monday I had a positively amazing experience. Somewhere between 500 and 700 people showed up to the Koko church to help 'pour' the floor of the 3rd floor. I got there a little bit after 7 am and stayed there until about 7 pm, although many people were there before and after me. And there were others who were there all day Sunday and Tuesday (like my host-mom, who slept at the church the Sunday night) who made Monday possible.

Everyone had a job: Young men filled and pushed wheelbarrows of gravel and sand, mixed the ciment, or stood on the scaffolding as they passed buckets of ciment upward. Young women (and also some guys and boys) stood on the top, forming long lines that passed the full buckets down and then the empty buckets back to the edge, some women past out drinks to keep people hydrated under the hot sun. Older women and many mothers made both lunch and dinner. Older men kept watch on the whole operation. Many people worked all day, on top of the building, under the Ivorian sun. It was an Ivorian National Holiday, no school and many people decided to spend it at Koko, some of whom weren't even members of Koko.

What a picture of the Church should look like, not just in material things like a building, but in loving each other and the needy world.

Had 3 ciment mixers for this operation!

Passing the buckets

Making lunch, rice with sauce arrachide and sunbaara

Looking down from the top

Gorgeous view of Mt. Korhogo from the top of the church.