A really big 

THANK YOU

We would like to say thank you to everyone who supported the car wash & breakfast today.

We washed 45 cars and served 70 breakfasts including 37 in the first 30 minutes, we raised over £1,560 towards materials for Transition House.

The next team goes out on Saturday morning for 2 weeks, doing more work towards completing the building project.

Check the blog from Saturday for regular updates on their progress.

Car Wash & Breakfast

Last day then homeward bound

Our last day was a busy one trying to complete as much of the work as we could before tidying up to go home.

Things were going well until about 30 minutes before finish time when Nick cut his hand on the blade of a Stanley knife. We dressed the wound and took him to a clinic in Odessa for attention, as the wound was quite deep.

After an examination the doctor decided that the wound was not too bad, cleaned it and then redressed the wound.

After our evening meal we went down to Odessa to see the Opera House and other sight by night, our vehicle then broke down and after a number of phone calls and checks it appeared to be a problem with the engine management system. We waited for another vehicle to arrive to collect us and tow the broken-down vehicle back to the church. We finally got to bed just after midnight. Only to be up again early to check in for our 7am flight.

Fortunately the flight was on time and after long queues at Kiev for security and passport control we boarded our flight to London.

The journey from London back to Worcester was made with a detour to avoid tailbacks on the M25, we finally arrived home at about 5.30pm, tired but happy to be back.

Look out  for a further blog next week with more photos of the work.

Only 1 more day to work

It's been a very busy day again today with work continuing as before completing the ceiling panels in the toilets and shower rooms as well as tiling the walls.

We also started fitting the ceiling tiles in the corridors today, which wasn't on our list of things to do, but the area is now looking close to completion even though there is still a lot of work to be done.

We also have all the laminate flooring and underlay to complete the other floors. Peter collected it from the market in two van loads and we carried all 88 packs of flooring as well as underlay up to the second floor.

Unfortunately we won't be able to lay it as we only have one day left until we fly home, however it will be ready for our next trip. 

Everyone is tired out and most are now in bed fast asleep, looking forward to getting as much done as we can before we leave just after 4am on Saturday.

Half Way Point

We have reached the half way point and work is continuing at a good pace. John C., Charles, Emlyn and Nick are making good progress with tiling three shower rooms while John D., Sam and Rob continue with installing the ceilings in shower/toilet rooms.

We had the pleasure of taking some of the children from the shelter bowling last night along with some of the adult helpers. An enjoyable time was had by all.

After lunch today, we were taken to the Black Sea camp for the traditional bbq and we were privileged to be joined by some of the pastors from Grace Baptist Church.

Tomorrow we shall continue with the hard intensive eating, interspersed with some work (apologies, that should be the other way round).

 Ten pin bowling with some of the children from the shelter.

Rob installing a ceiling in one of the shower rooms.

John C. tiling a shower room.

Nick preparing a mix for tiling.

A break from work and time together at the Black Sea Camp.

Rob.

Work has started

We started work this morning by moving all the boxes of tiles and bags of tile cement up to the second floor, by the time we had done that we were all ready for a break, but strangely, Sasha the builder (who is overseeing our work) looked at his watch and just laughed, which we understood (without an interpreter) to mean, forget it and get to work!

 

So we did, we split off into groups and started to sort out tools, tiles, cement, steel channel and ceiling tiles.

It took a little while for us to get going but soon we were all back into the swing of things.

 

By the end of a very tiring day we have, completed 3 ceilings (including metalwork to support the tiles), tiled 2 walls and fitted some trunking for ventilation.

Not a bad effort for the first day, time for a shower and rest, before we start again tomorrow.

Sunday -Wedding Day

This morning we went to Grace Baptist Church for the day, the church was prepared for a wedding, due to take place after the normal service.

The first part of the service was as usual, with singing, prayers and two sermons,

then the wedding service started. It was different to an English wedding as the Pastor addressed the bride and groom first then the vows were taken.

At the end of the service, the ushers and bridesmaids came round the whole congregation handing out gifts of chocolates. Afterwards we had lunch at the church with the Pastor.

We then went out to down town Odessa sightseeing.

We walked across town past the Opera House to the seaport where we stopped for a break at a cafe.

Then posed for a team photo

Tomorrow we start work - with boxes of tiles waiting to be laid