August 19^th, 2008 (written by Jason)

Hey all! So good to hear from so many of you regarding our newly acquired internet access. Yes we are probably more excited than you about it and are really looking forward to more consistent communication with many of you. As many of you know, we will be coming home in about 4 months time and it would really mean a lot if you would send us e-mails, wall postings (Facebook) and comments on our blog. It is really encouraging to hear from you and we love reading every little note or diddy.

Many of you have asked about how my projects have been going and in a nutshell summary “GREAT!!” The community really rallied behind the project and gave a 110% to it. A laundry list of improvements got done in just 3 ½ weeks.

• We repaired broken floors in 2 classes.

• Added or expanded floors in 2 classes.

• Repaired ceilings in 2 classes.

• Repaired and painted roofs or 2 buildings.

• Added and fixed a sidewalk.

• Painted the outside and inside 2 buildings.

• Repaired broken windows.

• Replaced 4 old, broken doors.

• Added steps to the 1^st grade classroom.

• Cleaned up the school grounds.

• Mended broken flower garden plots.

• Built play areas for all grade levels.

• Dugout the foundation area for a new building.

• And provided temporary employment to almost 30 community members.

It is really a dramatic difference that has been made at the school and would not have been possible if not for the generous giving of all of you! You have made this school something that the students, teachers, and community can be proud of. As the saying goes here “We give you hands”.

But that is only phase 1. Now we are moving onto the next element in the school improvement project. This is the building of a new building altogether. A whole bunch more of you contributed to this project and we were with the help of Friends Of Lesotho we were able to get the entire $8,500.00 here. I deposited the check on Friday and we are going to order materials this week on Wednesday. It is going to be close but we are pushing for the buildings to be up in less than 3 months. We are going to be building 2 new buildings. The first will be to small classrooms to get the standard 5 class out of the chicken house and into something more befitting of children. The second will be a small office for the principal and deputy to share and use when hosting district officials and dignitaries and for storing textbooks, heaters and other school equipment. Neither building will be overly elaborate but they will be nice and functional.

You will also notice that I have posted some new pictures and a few YouTube videos. These are just some random things that I have seen whether at school or on vacation. The descriptions by them should be enough but if you have questions on what they are, please feel free to comment.

Hope all of you are happy and healthy. All our love.

Jason and Janeen