When I came to Kentucky to look into volunteering back in 2008, doing any kind of construction work for a year was definitely not something I considered. I have NO experience doing anything "handy" or repairing anything. In fact, I remember when my housemates (mostly girls) would often know how to fix things quite easily, and I was just astounded at where they learned this! But, over my time in Kentucky, I have participated several times a year on disaster relief or home repair projects and can at least recognize a few tools, use a hammer, and even a few power tools (although it still scares me a little)!
When my sister came to volunteer, she chose to work in one of our home repair programs so that she could master a few of these skills. This week, I went to one of our camps and decided to join a crew of high school students and their leaders on a project. Every time I do this, I realize how little I really know. And since I've now been around for a little while, I often fall into leadership at CAP functions....however, this is definitely not true when it comes to home repair projects! I should not be leading anyone!! But, alas, I joined a team (not my sister's, ironically). Since the high schoolers aren't allowed to use power tools or climb tall ladders (for insurance purposes), that became my job. Here are a few reasons (that were reinforced this week) I should not be leading students--or anyone--on housing repair:
1. the elements--I'm a Southern girl in many ways, probably foremost in the fact that I prefer warm-even hot-weather. The idea of working outside in the wind, ice, snow, and rain, does not appeal to me. This week, luckily, it was a beautiful day--sunny and in the 60's and 70's--but I forgot that sunny also means sunscreen...which didn't even cross my mind. So, yes, my pale skin is now quite red.
2. I really can't do it all. My God-given confidence in myself leads me to believe that I really can do anything I put my mind to....carry that ladder around the house? sure. lift that whole pile of wood? no problem. Spray insulation into the attic? Fun! And doesn't seeing someone else drive a nail or screw in a piece of metal look so easy? I quickly realize that these things really aren't that easy and do require a bit of skill. Which leads me to my next point...
3. Though I haven't had any major accidents-knock on wood-I do tend to do really stupid things. For example, this week, a junior high school boy and I teamed up to put up the spindles on the front porch. This actually is an easy project, but not so much when you're paired with an ADD child who gets distracted by the cute little dog on the porch every 5 minutes (after we finished half of the porch, he took a break to make a video of this dog, and then jumped on the trampoline in the backyard). While we were doing the spindles, they were stacked vertically on the porch against the rail (not sure if this whose bright idea this was). When he went to screw in the top, guess what? They all came falling onto my head (I really didn't need to lose any more brain cells)! It didn't really hurt that badly, but the last 2 days, my forehead has been swollen! Apparently, the redness wasn't all sunburn!
But, I do have to say that these projects always give me more confidence and a sense of a job well-done when it's completed. We were able to finish all the siding on the house that day which was quite an accomplishment! And I did enjoy being the one who go to climb to the top and use the circular saw all day! Kudos to all our great, skilled crew leaders--I know it's harder than it looks!
 Finished spindles |
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