Back to our Old Stomping Ground

 

In 1995 Julie and I shared this hut for a year. It was our first time in PNG. That was long ago and we are amazed that God enabled us to both be here again together with our families!

We got to visit our friends in the Bena too.

Julie and I made some of these cement lids for all the water shut offs around the centre 30 years ago. And they are still there!

Now the Campus is a teachers college and currently they said there are 600 students! Some live on centre, some rent from the people around the centre and walk to school each day.

This is the duplex that Julie and I helped build long ago. The left side was where Jacob and I first lived after we were just married. We returned to PNG after 2 months of marriage!

Heading up the stairs to the dining hall.

The Old Interface Dining Hall

Many years ago these cabinets were built and we labeled the shelves... and the shelves are still labeled.

It was cool to see this sign still high up on the wall in the Old Interface Classroom, which is now used to teach students how to be teachers at the new college. 

Just a few months before Interface was closed down (which we didn't know was going to happen), we had a team come to repour the classroom floor which was badly chipped up. At one of the entrances of the building, the Interface staff wrote their names in the wet cement. Such a cool thing to see... and to see that the floor is still in good shape after 13 years!

I used to live in the round house on the right side.... a bit more vegetation now.. but still in use.

Jacob's projects written by Jacob

 

For the last step in our training program (training citizen carpenters), the guys, planned, designed and built a porch. Here it is in the finishing up stages.

They did a great job in making a budget and a plan. Then making that plan work within the budget. It was great to see them really put their skills to the test with this project and produce a really nice porch!

While they worked on the porch, I started my own little project. Drainage and erosion has been a real problem at the guesthouse during rainy season so I built a small retaining wall to level out the land and s lead the water away from the guesthouse.

As you can see, the hill directs the rain right into the guesthouse. Not great during tropical storms!

With the wall complete, we started working on backfilling.

Having a great crew of guys really helps the work go fast and be fun.

The cat also likes to sleep on all the wood that will be turned into cabinets for the flats. This makes getting the wood without making the cat mad very difficult. 

Then it was on to replacing the kitchen in flat two.

After the cabinets were torn out, The ladies put their painting expertise into practice.

While I worked hard in the shop on a new set of cabinets.

After a lot of work, the room and cabinets were finally ready and the fun part of making it all come together could begin.

It is always fun to see a large project finally start to come together after all the work that goes into the preparation and planning!

I have been working on making a metal countertop here in country for a number of years now. The fun part of this is I can do a few custom details that I hope our guests find encouraging.

Just a few more door to make and then I will get to see the finished product.