Yesterday was my first day of Habitat build since the cruise. This is half of the crew I had. While it is hard to appreciate from the photo, these are high schoolers. I had a crew of nine of them which is way too many to keep engaged. We are building wall panels for the houses we will begin constructing in early May, There was a delay in getting the street into the development so there was a delay in getting the cement foundations poured. Starting last fall, we began building walls panels for the houses and we now have all of the panels done for the houses that will be built this summer and some of the houses to be built in the fall as well. Because of the delay in getting the foundations poured, there were not as many dates for the the volunteers this spring. To accommodate all of the groups that have donated, more groups are coming on the same days. We had a total of 50 volunteers yesterday including the high school group.
I have noticed that as one of the few women SOS (Supervisor on Site) on the days that I am there, the young, inexperienced women tend to come to work with me which is fine. My groups are generally less productive than groups with more upper body strength but it is fun to watch the women go from 20 strikes with the hammer to get the 3 inch nail in to 7 or 8. A typical groups size is 4-6 which is a reasonable number to make sure everyone stays busy. I had worked with groups of college students before, but not high schoolers.
My group was primarily women and all were very nice. There was just too many to keep engaged. The minute they were not swinging the hammer, they were talking to each other. Two would become 4 which would become the entire group. I would then be giving instruction about the next step to myself. This happened several times.
I was physically and mentally exhausted when I got home yesterday. I did a reasonable job of not showing my frustration (but I could have done better). Next year when I see “University School” on the schedule, I will know it is high schoolers and adjust my expectations. I look forward to having a smaller group next time as well. I think would have made a big difference.
Tamara Unleashed 