DR Exercise

I am leading a disaster recovery exercise that started last week.  A whole team of people from Europe, the USA, and India came together to work on the activity, everyone contributing and doing their thing. It is a beautiful sight to see everyone working together without ego. The final exercise starts tomorrow for this phase and will be a whole-day activity. There were no issues reported during the shift, and a lot of people were impressed and praised the team's work. This is the first time I am leading this exercise and I was exhausted last week, but came to work though logged out an hour early.

I attended a task leader training for HFH after work on Tuesday and learned several new things, such as bending steel borders and headers for doorways. The training was conducted in a large warehouse where most of the hard constructions are done, such as wood frames, and delivered to the building site where the volunteers assemble the house. Only in this country, I feel, could such an endeavor work, with community and self-organizing teams selflessly working together for the community. It was the same way in the weekend exercise, where everyone came together and did honest work.

I plan to volunteer more in HFH to learn new skills, especially to help me construct a deck and fence in my backyard. Most of the people who volunteer in HFH are retirees, and some who are builders, workmen, or journey men who are in the construction industry. These are honest, simple, and hardworking men who eagerly engage in the building activities in the warehouse and on the site, working outside in the cold of winter to get a house built for a family they most likely will never meet. I grow during these types of activities, working selflessly with my hands, learning simple skills, and giving back to the community.

I attended this weeks' Toastmaster meeting and volunteered as the timekeeper. This is another organization that is simple and constructive for self-development. I hope to remain active in both Toastmasters and HFH when I retire to keep myself busy. Social interaction, camaradeire and self-improvement are good goals to keep one engaged with the community and help one keep growing into a better person. It's only in this country I feel where there is such richness in the civic duties of it's citizens.

Habitat for Humanity

Yesterday, I spent the morning installing vinyl siding in a house being built by  Habitat for Humanity. I was the cutter guy, cutting the siding with a circular saw after getting measurements from the team who hammered them into the side of the house. There was a window on our side of the house and an exhaust pipe, which required us to cut areas in the siding to accommodate these peculiarities. This work slowed us down as compared with the other team on the other side of the house, which did not have any windows. So installing the sidings did not take too much time.

I liked using the circular saw when cutting, following the wood guides set up to allow the circular saw to move in a straight line. Measuring was also fun as I had to cut the length based on these measuremenst so accuracy was important. We worked from 9:00 am to 1:15 pm in the afternoon. The day was cold at 9 degress Celcius, so we tried to work in the sun to warm ourselves. I worked with Bob, who was an experienced tradesman who worked in various roles in coisntruction including carpentry. I learned many things from him, from tying an extension cord, laying out the area in a manner that would make movements easier, not ripping into courses of or building materials.

The team that installed the siding also had one amateur and another experienced builder. The siding has to be done right, as layer upon layer fills the wall from top to bottom, and the team hammers the siding into place row by row. This is the most delicate work, according to the builders, as a mistake in the lower row discovered late would require the disassmeblng off the row back down until the incorrect row is fixed. So each row had to be measured and checked if it was level or straight using a leveling ruler.

This is the second time I participated in a Habitat for Humanity build onsite. I volunteered to be a task leader and attended one training session in December, where we learned how to use a nail gun and to measure the wood used to build a door frame. Most of the people joining these sessions are well-experienced builders, capenters and tradesmen who have been inthe industry for many years, even decades. The person I worked with said he has been a builder for over 30 years.

I liked working with them in an activity that required focus, a familiarity with tools, and to put one's attention in the task at hand, working with your hands and talking with tradesmen and telling simple stories and learning from their experience. I want to get the knowledge and skills to be able to build a deck in my backyard this spring and summer. To know what tools are needed, the type of wood to buy, and the organization needed to lead the build.