Construction Update

Before I start I want to say that nothing done here was accomplished except through Jesus.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path strait". Proverbs 3:5

This has been one of the hardest things our family has ever done. I trust in my own understanding and think I am something. I could not begin to tell you how God has provided wisdom for hard problems, provided safety for the workers, provided the materials to be stretched along with our faith. He has constructed this wall. It is only a wall, but it is for His glory and the future of the children that will come and find safety, and eventually a forever family.

Well it has been an incredibly busy time here at Rehoboth. I want to update everyone on the status of the project.

A guide to see what part of the project we are doing and where the pictures are taken. Phase 2 will be completed whenever the funds come in. What we accomplish will secure the site.

The back of the 5.5 acre property, is fenced in with a 2.5 meter high concrete filled block wall. It runs along the top of and down into a ravine that is 20 feet deep and very steep, at least it is if you are putting a wall along its side or down it. We have completed 95% of this work and we need to finish some minor items. It has been a challenging area due to the terrain. It has also been a challenge because there is no easy access to the back side of the property, so a lot of the materials had to be carried by hand to the construction area. Concrete blocks, gravel, sand, cement bags, water, and rebars. There are no light duty jobs here. Everyone works and works hard. We also had to be a little concerned about securing our materials, so far away from the bank house, where the materials are kept safe and secure. By Gods grace we finished and all went well. We ran conduit in the wall for future lighting on top of the posts. Here are some of the progressions of this back side of the wall.

Initial digging, center of the back wall.

Footing in

Concrete pour by buckets!

Contractor Eng. Philip Sicat(far left) with his men.

Attaching concrete caps

Looking east down ravine

Looking West down ravine

Arch for small stream through ravine

Concrete erosion protection

The biggest part of the wall is in the front area, along the road. Because the orphanage wants to have retail areas in the front to; 1. Produce income in the form of retail rental areas, 2. Help reduce costs by producing some of the services they now purchase, such as filtered water, and 3. It will be a great opportunity to train others to run and operate a small business.
The problem is that the retail area needs to be at the road level and our lot is 1.5 to 2.5 meters above the road. This means putting the footing of the wall 2 to 3 meters below the existing ground(6.5 to 10 feet deep)! It is very hard to get construction equipment here. We are in the rural area and it is so expensive to have machinery, let alone try to transport it up a windy steep highway to our location. But we were able to get an excavator and dig the trench. Some of the difficulties came when the excavator destroyed all of the stakes, or makers I had for digging and even had the opportunity to take out the reference makers on the way to start digging. It all turned out well and the trench was strait...ish. First day of digging

The design of the wall is for a retaining wall. All of that soil on the inside of the property will be resting against the wall and nothing on the other side except retail shops. So the footing is almost 5 feet wide and 1 foot thick, with a massive amount of rebar in it. So many people wondered why we put a sidewalk so deep in the ground:). It was even harder to explain when we started backfilling all of the wall. The retail area won't be constructed for 2-5 years so there is no reason (or money) to dig out 2,400 cubic meters of dirt to let it erode away until we can build on it. We are doing work now, to save work and money in the future. But to onlookers, it seems like a sidewalk in the ground.

It is so hard to move the mixer every half hour for the pours.

A lot of bracing.

Wall is poured, conduit in, clean up and then ready for backfill.

The future medical clinic has a lower floor at the height of the street and an upper floor going into the property. So it was decided to construct this medical clinic area at the wall so nothing will need to be demolished when the entire medical clinic is constructed. Because it does have two floor slabs resting on 1 wall footing, it is a big wall and footing. The footing is 8.5 feet wide and 2 feet thick. It has 1" diameter rebar in it. That is big rebar! Here are some pictures of the medical clinic.



Some of the other happenings is a drain to relieve any water pressure against the wall. It runs the length of the retaining wall, 300 feet, and outlets into the lagoon area. We also needed to waterproof the inside wall because of the use by the medical clinic lower floor and the retail space as essentially a basement area below the property. This and the drain was not in the contractors bid, so mostly the caretakers at Rehoboth have been painting on the asphalt like paint. Even Brita, Ate Fe and I were painting. A few hours in the trench painting and you start to get woozy.

The backfilling is going well. We try to compact manually as well as we can, but we only have a week or two before the major rains and the trench has to be filled in. We use water to settle the soil after initial compaction. I have never seen 10 guys with shovels and 2 wheel barrows move 250 cubic yards of dirt in 4 days. Amazing!


The last part of our wall is the front area to the south of the gate. This is only about 4 feet deep but does go across the ravine again. We crossed at the culvert, and poured a beam across it. This was much better than trying to cross in the swampy area below the culvert.






Now we need to pour the rest of the columns in front and install the metal grilles. We have already fabricated them, and galvanized the metal. I have seen first hand here in the Philippines 1/2" thick steel rusted through in 4-5 years! The combination of a lot of precipitation and acid rain destroy untreated metal. Here is a picture of the grilles.





The rains are coming and the typhoon was a warning. We are working 7 days a week to finish all the major portions before we get wet.


Hopefully this gives you a better feel for the project and where we are now. Your prayers have supported us and this project. Please pray for continued safety, especially on the last big 10 foot pour. With the forms in the bottom of the trench, it is a deep, tight spot. Also pray for continued strength and wisdom for the workers and us. Pray that the weather would continue to be dry. Also that we could show Jesus through our actions and work with joy and love as we serve Him.