ITBUD, Batanes - A good day to you all! We have had a party in Imnajbu. Big doings, the midwife got married to her long time fiancée, and all had a good time. For all of you that are from Imnajbu you will appreciate that the main street was covered with canvass tarps and very well decorated with white and green paper streamers. Many of the town's people donated potted plants for effect. Now there is always a problem, and this time was no exception. The wedding mass was to start at three o'clock according to my invitation, and around quarter to four the priest showed up. I'm not one to complain, but around five-thirty is when the mass was over.
hauled away the debris. Then they went down to the beach and got sand to the tune of 25 cubic yards in thirty minutes - more than twice as much as my crew has done in three weeks. (Of course, my crew is working after normal work hours and only loads a cubic yard at a time. One bag at a time, 40 bags un-sifted to the cubic yard.)
We have had to coordinate the work crews of two projects because we would have had a conflict of interest for roof pouring. The Ybay crew in Imnajbu will pour on the 28th of February, and my crew in Itbud will pour on the 5th of March, 2005. That way we will be able to help each other. You would think that a town fiesta was being planned, so if you can come during that time we have doings to keep you busy! Even if you don't do anything but watch you'll still have a goodtime! I have my camping chair ready, and I'm going to sit, and have some cool drinks and pretty girls to keep me company. (Wife, and in-laws!)
smaller amount of cement. Added to the cement we had 13 cubic yards of sand and 18 cubic yards of rocks. One of the comments I overheard during the day was "I wish we had that old mixer machine from the old station." Yes, that would have been nice but a concrete pump and mixer would have been better. When we do the roof on the second floor they will understand what I'm talking about. (The roof on the second floor turned out to be twice as much work and we had twice as much fun.)
6.5 million pesos to completethe project. Any amount that you send will be a big help. You can send your tax deductible donations to the:
Philippine National Bank
Basco Branch,
Basco, Batanes 3900
Philippines
Account Name: ITBUD PARISH CHURCH
Savings Account Number: 612-515328-1
We are holding services outside right now over in the old school yard. (The school was badly damaged in the earthquake and we can't be inside because the walls might fall and the roof is missing. Thank God the government built three new buildings for the kids to be safe in. To illustrate how bad the damage was without anyone knowing during the demolition of the old church a worker struck the wall with a sledgehammer and the entire wall collapsed in less than a second. Two workers jumped to safety and a third ran out of harms way. There was a dust cloud for about five minuets after the collapse of the wall. If I hadn't been on top of my place looking at what was going on I wouldn't believe that could have happened. Those walls were over a meter thick.
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Note: This report was written back in early 2005 and a lot has changed. First of all Andy and Byne have a son that's about a little over a year old, the church has gotten all four walls and my house is for the most part done.
I don't have any shots of the church as it is today, but they have finished tearing down the old church and hauling off the rubble. They have built four walls and are trying to build the steel roof. Each weekend we all get together and try to raise a girder or two so the workers can weld them into place during the week.
Now what about this long absence on my part? Well guess what! I've been working on the house and then back in June, July, and the first part of August, my wife and I took a vacation back to the states and saw our kids and most of all the Grandkids. We all went to Disney World in Florida the fourth of July weekend and had a ball, so we are all hoping to do that again.
Remember, if you get a chance come back and see all of us here on the island. Just in the two and a half years I've been here it has changed a lot.
Hope to see you all soon. - Mike Griffin, September 2006 |
