Ow.

March 26th

Today was a day of injuries. If you had the sudden urge to pray for me around 3 am, then 5 am, (eastern standard time) there was a good reason. Surely the Lord was watching over me and the people I was working with. Today we were putting up the trusses that we built yesterday and this morning. I really wanted to get done with the trusses today, both because I want to finish the project, and because we are holding up the finishing contractors. We had to insert the trusses underneath the existing roof, which was quite tricky. They needed to be quite beefy to take the weight of the concrete ceiling, so the bottom and top chords were both 2x6, which means they're actually about 2 1/8 by 7, and wet. The span was 29 feet, so they were quite large, and HEAVY. I'm guessing ~ 500 lbs. Anyway, the way that we had to do it was to lift up one side of the truss (with the truss standing, not flat) while climbing a ladder and set that side on the top plate, then go across the room and lift it up while simultaneously sliding onto the other top plate ( being careful not to slide it off the first side) Not that big a deal given ideal circumstances, but oh these were less than ideal.

First the 3 AM one.

So on the first truss that we were attempting to put up, we got the one side up with me doing the lifting on the "ladder", with about 9 ugandans helping below. Because the truss was upright, it needed to be stabilized to keep from falling over, so there were guys with long boards holding the top. kind like an amish barn raising, except smaller. So I ran over to the other "ladder" so we could pick up and set the other side. We got it up so it was resting on the top of the ladder, we just needed to get it up the last 2 feet or so, with me standing on the second to last rung with the truss on my shoulder. Remember the stabilizing boards? it was at this point when I'm balancing on the ladder with 250lbs on my shoulder that they decided to put a little lateral force on the truss. This sent me and the truss tumbling sideways off the ladder. You know how things slow down in moments like that? As I fell I was taking a mental inventory of the objects that I was about to fall on, (a stack of chairs and tables from the dining area) and figuring out if I was going to land on my back or not, which I was really not looking forward to. Then I landed feet first on an upside down table on top of another table ( missing the table legs, and not breaking the table, which is a testament to the quality of Jonah's carpentry skills.) and the truss landed next to my foot. My arm got bruised and scratched up, but i was fine, and everyone else was fine, miraculously.

2 Hours later, after we put up trusses 1,2,3 without further incident (except when i was placing the 2nd one, the first one fell over because it was poorly braced, but it got stuck on another truss and stayed up.) we got to the 4th one. It was going to be slightly more difficult because the plate was harder to get to. Also, I at this point was very tired after lifting both sides of 3 trusses, fearing for my life, being dehydrated, and overheated. I decided that I would have Abu do the lifting from the ladder, because I was so exhausted. we got one side up, and again I put Abu on the ladder, with me on the opposite ladder so that I could push when the time came. Some of our original 9 had wandered off, and we were down to about 6. So they were having a hard time getting it up to Abu on the ladder, especially with me not there. (me strong like bull ;-) ) We're not quite sure what happened, but somehow when they got it on top of the ladder and Abu was lifting it, the ladder gave way, and the whole truss fell down and sideways, (breaking the ladder in half in the process) and this time there were no tables to land on, so Abu lept for the wall to get out of the way of the falling truss.The 5 guys underneath the truss somehow managed to get out of the way and again somehow I didn't get knocked off my ladder with it falling from where I was holding it. It landed on the ground flat, snapped in half, and the half that was still up came to rest 6 inches from my right knee on my ladder. Again, miraculous there were no major injuries. We have travel health insurance, and I'm really glad that I didn't get to use it today.

Ironically the worst injury I had today came after we fixed the truss and were putting it back up. It was a tight fit, and I was standing on the top of the ladder pushing up with my shoulder for about 10 minutes straight, sometimes with all the strength I have. I have bruises and scratches all over my shoulder, back, and arms from lifting; it actually looks terrible.

I went and got Ellie from the secondary site on jame's bike today, and she rode back to our house on the back, sidesaddle. The brakes on the bike are less than adequate, so i decided to stop somewhat abruptly instead of going down a steep hill that I would not have been able to navigate safely. Well, Ellie had switched orientation from how she had started out, and so I dumped the wrong direction, putting her on her back instead of on her feet. So she tumbled off the back onto the concrete and managed not to land on her head.


Anyway, I am exhausted, sore, and I'm going to go snuggle with my wife, so thank you for your prayers today, they were effective.