Sunday, October 27, 2013

28. Basketball Court (Part VI)

After two years, one hundred and fifty thousand Meticais, 150 bags of cement, two tons of metal, and hours and hours and hours of labor (from Dan, the school director, a whole team of welders, a whole team of laborers, and Leme-- an unbelievably driven counterpart), the basketball court FINALLY looks like a basketball court!  

With just two weeks remanescente, everything is finally coming together in a grand and charismatic way.  The goal posts were finished this week and inserted onto either side of the concrete court, adding a finishing touch to the now-completed foundation.  All that's left to do is to pave the surface of the court itself.  

Dan is so happy to see that the court finally looks real and substantial.  All of Zobue is getting more and more excited to see the project near completion.

At the welder's:  Inspecting the finished goalposts
A closer view of the backboard:  Iron placards reinforced with central wooden beams
A closer view of the soldering between the iron posts
The School Director poses for a picture with one of the basketball rims
The welder puts the finishing touches on one of the two backboards
At the welder's:  Testing the sturdiness of the large (and dangerously heavy) goalposts
At the construction site:  A team of students and community members insert the first goalpost
At the construction site:  The completed foundation and two matching goalposts.
It finally looks like a real basketball court!
Seni works on his jump shot.  Just a little short...
Dan poses with one of the two finished goalposts.  The rims, which are currently in storage,
will be inserted onto the backboard as part of the Opening Day celebration.

With just two weeks left in Zobue, Dan and I are hoping that we can see the project through to the end.  It's been wonderful to watch this dream unfold and come true for the whole town!

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