RSIS Borneo: getting stuck in (the mud)
Posted: 11 December 2019
Tuesday 10th December
Morning running club
The team have been waking up in the morning full of energy and have been starting their days with a morning running club. A group of students and adults have been going out in the mornings for a gentle jog and have been enjoying the beautiful scenery and had the opportunity to spot the local wildlife. The mornings exercise is a great way to start the day and gets everyone really motivated for a day of work on the project site! Of course, the jog isn’t mandatory and some team members much prefer getting some rest.
The orphanage
The team had their first introduction to the children at the orphanage. Tambunan Orphanage cares for and educated 75 children who have lost their parents, whose parents cannot care for them or have been abandoned and is run by Catholic nuns and volunteers. The children treated the team to a performance of ‘You raise me up” before dinner.
Work on the project site
The team have started preparing work on foundations – flattening and leveling the ground and inserting leveling poles, and continue to work hard transferring the building materials from the school to the project site. Due to the wet weather, it’s made for very muddy work. But the team have all enjoyed the opportunity to muck in and get their hands dirty. They have also started to dig a large (somewhat muddy) hole which will house the septic tank for the toilet in the new house.
Student blog update written by: Tamaryn, Johannes, Ahaanna, Yaxin, Morgan, Austin, Suri, Priya, Parv, Shakinar, Ivy, Olivia.
What has made you laugh the most so far?
Shakinar – has a great accent and exuberant personality, Olivia says so many funny things with her stories, Suri has a great sense of humour and great jokes.
What has really opened your eyes?
The sun and how easy it is to get burnt but we are all taking precautions to stay safe. Everyone has been working non-stop, realising how much work goes into construction. Discovering how friendly the locals are, how amazing the food is, the polite and grateful locals and interacting with everyone and how they are so different for us and how our help is so valuable to them. We love feeling needed and the different lifestyle and cultures compared to ours. We can all learn the different cultures that the rest of us come from, but more and more we know that even ourselves, we are very different. Some people don’t like Vegemite.
Who has done something special for you?
Olivia sat with a few girls in the Chapel and enjoyed chatting with the local kids.
Johannes noticed how well everyone worked together, how well everyone gets along – at school groups form and people are mean but here, everyone gets along and has fun and we can have a joke and have grown together to a very accepting group.
Ivy has had some wonderful conversations with people. Priya has been lovely to her as well.
Loving the brick line, stacking bricks, shoveling sand and chatting to Miss Coops.
Morgan went for a run with Sienna and were really excited by the water buffalo and the baby buffalo and loved it!
Parv feels good about overcoming his shyness.
Yaxin is a great running buddy – Holly really appreciates it! And appreciates Daniel speaking Chinese to her!
Priya and Yasmin went for a run and enjoyed the doggy running with them.
Morgan saw one of the Angels feeding the puppies and their mum and making sure they are all okay. He gave them food and treats.
We saw all the little orphans today – that was so special.
What has been the hardest for you so far?
Mixing cement, the heat, lifting 50kg cement bags, moving wheelbarrows with cement, drinking warm water, going 5 days without peanut butter.
What is your favourite thing to do on the worksite?
We love shoveling sand and mud, we love the mud and now have super smooth skin. We have been enjoying wheel-barrowing up and down the hill, exfoliating with the mud. Austin and Johannes’ faces will be super smooth from their impromptu face masks. We also love joking and chatting with each other.
Wednesday 11th December
Work on the project site
The team spent the morning continuing work on digging the hole, and have started work mixing cermet to pour the foundations of the new house.
Donations
The afternoon was a bit wet so the team enjoyed an afternoon back at base camp, sorting through the donations they had brought with them. Students had brought loads of school supplies including backpacks, notebooks, pencils, color pencils, rulers, pens, A4 sheets of paper and anything they can use for their school work – to be donated to the children who attend the orphanage. The gifts were gratefully received, and the whole team enjoyed spending some time with the children.
Student blog update written by: Bryce, Dave, Eleni, Kayka, Miles, Saksham, Sophie and Sydney.
“Today was day four of working on the project site. After an early breakfast, we all sorted our donated items and handed them out to the children at the orphanage. We were extremely lucky that the children were here for the day as it was the first time we got to properly interact with them, and we loved seeing them play with their toys throughout the day.
Building today was tough but short due to the unexpected rain which hit us just before lunchtime. During the morning we carried on digging the hole which will be used to store a septic tank, transported aggregate from where the truck dropped it off to the building site and continued to mix cement to use for the foundation of the house.
Rain hit us at lunchtime so we got given the afternoon off where we did our washing, cleaned our rooms, people rested, played with the kids, played games with each other and visited the local store. After the intense trivia match last night, it’s going to be nice for all of us to have an early night and prepare for another big day in the project site as we more to flattening out the area for foundation work.”