Here’s Ryan learning the art of reboo. Dave made up the term reboo, but it’s a good working term. Stalks of bamboo were harvested, quartered, and shaved smooth. Once we had the amount we needed, the bamboo strips were woven to create a firm, flexible reinforcement for our concrete floors.
Who needs a cement truck when you have a Bucket Brigade?! There is one cement truck on this island. The story is that the truck never leaves the garage. It remains there as a status symbol for the owner, yet it probably doesn’t work.
When the bees are less active, the locals harvest honey from this 2′ x 5′ hive.
We worked with a team from California to grade and pour the floors of this library. Instead of iron rebar, we used strips of bamboo to reinforce the concrete (a.k.a reboo). Bamboo is a commonly used building material and is extremely resilient in this hot and humid region.
Monsoon season has arrived and massive, torrential rains would come and go. It made it easy to know when to take those 5 minute breaks from digging holes.
This is one of the churches planted by C&MA missionaries, Joel and Milka. We’ll be leveling some ground, installing a barbed wire fence (are churches allowed to have those?), working in the nursery, and teaching English to the teachers.
Everyone worked well as a team. We quickly fit into our own job specialties: Trail Blazers, Depth Finders, Diggers, Levelers/Tampers, and Fillers.
We leveled an area of rock and dirt before we dug holes for the concrete posts.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in both Thai and English
