The final push

We were woken next morning by the sound of the grinder at 6:30am. Several of the previous mornings, work had begun around 7am, but eager Walter was usually one of the first at the post, and this morning he had decided to get cracking with the grinding. I spent the morning mostly watching Tommy construct the pulley system for the zip line (although, to be honest, I hadn’t much energy for anything else!).

After lunch, some of the Brazilian children arrived. One girl had obviously spent considerable time drawing us pictures to take home with us. It was great to see them playing on the newly hung swings and climbing frame. Once they had left, work began on the zip line. It was decided that the support hoop on the playground needed to be raised and so some effort was expended to get the necessary frame in place to carry the weight. At about 3pm, it seriously looked as though rain was going to thwart the completion of the work, but thankfully it passed over reasonably quickly, and so we returned to work. The cable was hoisted up the first tree and bolted in place. At the second tree, it was also hoisted into position and, summoning the last of our energy, tensioned and locked in position. I volunteered for the first run. After untying the pulley system Tommy had built, I counted to three and launched myself off the platform. The initial rush of speed was good, but it also became immediately apparent that we still hadn’t quite got the tension in the wire rope quite right. I was quite rapidly descending towards the grass. By the time I was close to half way, my rear end was only inches above ground. This, however, was something of a blessing when the ride came to an abrupt end as the pulley system locked up. It transpired that the rope had somehow jumped out of the mechanism and had jammed solidly against the frame holding the pulleys in place. It was a slight disappointment, but it was already late in the day and we had to concede that it would be another job to be left for after our departure.

David Roof, who had kindly agreed to put the roof on the playground, had joined us for dinner with his family. Craftily, during dinner, Walter and Bill had popped out and mounted a plaque on the playground saying that it had been built to commemorate 30 years of service by Tommy and Margaret in Brazil. After dinner, we all headed out to the playground for an informal dedication ceremony. I don’t think Tommy and Margaret had really expected the plaque at all, and so were both surprised and happy that it had been erected. We then prayed for the playground and all those who would use it in the future (all the while being eaten alive by a number of biting insects that were clearly also enjoying dinner before sun set!). Group photos were taken before we had that evening’s devotions and headed to our rooms to try to begin sorting the stuff we were taking home the next day.