The Brick Factory

It's been an exhausting week - Melissa and I have been tag-teaming OMS orientation this week.  Melissa went to Greenwood on Tuesday and Thursday and I went Monday and Wednesday and will go again tomorrow to catch the tail end.  So I only put in two days at the school, and that feels REALLY weird.  I simply do not like being out of the classroom.  And it's not just because you never know what kind of damage might occur under a substitute's watch ... I think I honestly miss those kids when I am not there.

So I am exhausted, and haven't had the chance to process orientation yet, but I still wanted to update things here, so I am just going to post the pictures from the brick factory I promised last time:

This place was quite the production.  The man up high shapes the clay on the wheel while the guy down low supplies the spin.  They had three partners like this going simultaneously. Their creations were functional and basic - mostly water jugs and bricks.  The jugs on the floor are starting the drying process before they can be fired.

Jane, Melissa and the kids listen attentively to the owner of the factory - who was quite happy to explain the process once Jane mentioned how regularly she might be able to bring paying customers from the mission.

This is the owner.  There's a lot of character on this man's face, isn't there?

These guys dig up the clay, stomp it (literally) into the right consistency, throw the pots, let them dry and then fire them in a huge furnace in the center of the grounds.  The fire burns for three weeks and then the pottery cools for another week before it can be removed and put up for sale.

I don't have the energy to do justice to this man's business tonight.  It was incredible.  When you come to Haiti to visit us in a year or two, we'll have to take you there ourselves.  ;-)