This has been a week of celebrations here in Gandiol! Sunday was Thai´s bday, one of the architects of the team that has left everything behind in Brazil to be here, a hardworking and an amazing person, motivating and smiling everyday… Happy Bday Thai! Also, on Tuesday we celebrated Mamadou´s birthday! 33 very well-lived years, squeezing out every day to the fullest, facing life with positivity, and forming an incredible family in which everyone is welcome… Thank you for making us part of your dream, Mamadou… and Happy Bday to you too!
And of course, we have also celebrated the long-awaited Korite! The feast of the end of the Ramadan. The night before was a magical moment, everyone looking at the sky trying to take a glimpse of the moon in order to start the celebration… and so was it! Wednesday morning everybody woke up in a good mood. We put our bubus on and went to the house of Mamadou´s family just by the sea to enjoy a great meal all together, the first one in a month! A spectacle of colors, jokes and hugs… The enormous satisfaction of sharing is one of the major lessons that we are learning here…
And more celebrations! We have two new members in the Gandiolese family! Last week we picked up Rocky, a puppy that tries to enter our rooms every night to have some cuddles… And on Monday Anita finally arrived! Member of the technical team, architect and aid worker, one of those people that you want close by to have a better day! Welcome Anita!
And the family does not stop growing, and with each new member, we renew our wills, strength, energy and desires to change the world… Every day someone new is attached to this great family that has decided to work on a dream that began in a day in 2006, in the mind of a young man who decided to risk everything on a piroque carring his hope as the only luggage and heading to a completely unknown place… A dream that is increasingly becoming a life project that advances without brake. Thanks to Hahatay, today the dream of many people will also have the opportunity to stop being a simple dream and become reality, in a big effort to make this world a little more fair…
And in that same direction Aminata keeps working.. On Saturday, we launched the first action with the community of Gandiol… An unforgettable day that we will tell you with more details during the week! Due to Korite, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, there was just celebrations and we did not work on the site. As our Xarit told us, and these days more than ever, the family comes first!
Everything was ready to start working with the adobes, and we wanted to have a part of the Wall already raised so that we could show it to the community and work with them in the coating with clay mortar. Because of that, on Friday we put hands to the work and the adobes were raised very fast! If they had so much energy during Ramadan imagine how it is now… No one can stop them! We almost told them to stop so that we do not have to go back home earlier than expected! Biram, Ndaga, Galai and the rest of the team learned the technique very fast, and we finally got to see how all the previous months of work were materialised… Finally, from now on no more foundation! Although the key pillar, the toughest and less rewarding part of the work… Alhamdoulillah! (Thanks God!)
