Monday, August 10, 2009

7th Build Day in Americus, GA!


Julia Tyner's son

Al came out to help us work on the house

We ended our 3-day stay in Americus with scraping and painting Julia Tyner’s house.  She is a recipient of a program that the Fuller Center does called the Greater Blessing.  There were about 16 of us working on the job so we were just about able to finish scraping all the old paint off her house and we made some good progress on the priming.  Al Newkirk and Dave Landis were they’re scraping away along with a couple other volunteers from around town. Some time soon some students from Florida and Georgia universities are going to come down and finish the job.

Bill Harris and the riders

At lunch we got to go to Café Campesino and drink their coffee and Bill Harris even showed us how they brew the beans, which is a secret that I can’t share.   He also talked to us about fair trade, which is the only way they purchase their coffee.

        Shacks in the Global Village    

After our day of work we headed over to the global village center that Millard Fuller had built around 10 years ago.  In it there is a row of dilapidated houses that show what is common poverty housing around the world.  And then as you head farther into the place you get to see how poverty housing is transformed into decent homes in different countries around the world.  So for example if a house is built in Papa New Guinea they will raise the house maybe 5 feet on stilts so when there are floods the house won’t get destroyed.

   Thanks William's Road Church of Christ!

For dinner we went to Williams Road Church of Christ.  They fed us great food a lot of which was homegrown in one of the church members garden.  But also barbequed chicken and pork.  Also a personal thank you to Keith Grisham and his wife for opening their home so some of us could take showers.

 Jacob Battle & Tamara         

  The highlight of my day was that I got to meet with an old friend from Americus who I knew from last year when I lived here.  I also got to see a lot of other friends here in Americus that I got to know last year.  So the last few days in Americus have been some of the best days of the trip for me.     

Faith filmed us working hard on the house

written by: Nick Reina

photos by: Esther Hyejin Chung

3 comments:

Doug said...

Nice write-up Nick. I see some of my old haunts in Americus - Global Village and Cafe Canpesino. Also spotted some long-time friends in the photos - Faith, Tamara and Jacob - good to see them. Happy that you've all had a chance to stop and build on FC projects along the way - that's so important to have that hands on experience and to be able to bear witness to that. Looks like you have one more build on Friday before your trip officially draws to a close on Sat.

Ride safe and keep spreading the word, Doug

Lynda said...

Hi Nick, I'm so happy to hear all about your exciting road trip...what a journey you've been on! I am so proud of you and your team. What a feeling of accomplishment you must be feeling. Going back to Americus must have been amazing for you..so many life-long memories for your 'mental pay-check file'..take lot's of pictures so I can check them out on Face Book when you get back!
Love & Hugs, Lynda

Doris said...

what a great journey ya'll have embarked on! sounds like a new adventure every day!

take care of my daddy (dave) out there :)