THE SECOND STORY

When the Scriptures say that God sends the rain upon the just and unjust alike (Matthew 5:45), we found out that God is no respecter of cement floors that are not designed to be a roof. We had been told by the builder that the second story floor would be leakproof without a roof, so that if we could not afford a roof for awhile, it would be no problem. No sooner did we have the first story complete than the second floor began to leak during our rains. As a consequence, our determination to wait till we had all the necessary funds in hand to complete the second floor became untenable. Consequently, we decided to do what we had to do to get a shell of a second floor upon which we could build the roof, so we could be dry on the first floor.

Left side of the school building with block walls near complete.

The platform protruding is a balcony for the second floor. Building in the right side is an optical allusion. There are actually two buildings. Our elementary school building is topped by the lower red roof. Behind that is a totally separate building on the adjacent property which has a second floor overshadowing our one-story elementary building and only appears to be a second story to our building. Hope that is clear..

We made arrangements with the block supply company to provide us with blocks that we could pay for later (like a year later), so we took this as a provision of the Lord to continue the work.

In time, this will be the living room for the second story. To the left is the Headmaster's office and classrooms. The front door enters out to the front balcony. To the right will be the headmaster's quarters and behind this picture and to the left will be visiting teacher quarters and a kitchen area.	This is the hallway to the three classrooms (two on the right and one on the far left) and the headmaster's office. Through the door in the back will be the visiting teacher's quarters and guest rooms (when not occupied by teachers from abroad).

The back of the second story has room for four guests or visiting teachers. One is regularly occupied by one of the local teachers who also is responsible for the house when the Poettcker's are absent.

THE ROOF BEGINS

While plans were made for a roof prior to Rev. Poettcker leaving Suriname for a book packing and buying trip for the school, along with a short vacation of a week, those plans were changed while he was in Florida. We went back and forth as to whether to have a prefabricated roof or a locally built traditional roof. In the process, God enabled us to come up with a cheaper way to do the traditional roof which saved us about $6,000. That was providential, because we needed all of that and more to get the electricity upgrade (requiring us to buy a transformer) for the school. We had to get that upgrade just to get the previous power levels restored. Ultimately, we saw no way around it and now have the power to the school.

This work took place under the complete oversight of Rev. Asgar Hamid since Rev. Poettcker was in the U.S. for two months.

A view from across the street finally gives some perspective of what is happening and how far the Lord has enabled us to get in the rebuilding process since the the fire in March, 2003.

ROOF COMPLETED.
Just in time for the opening of school in mid-August, the scafolding for the roof was able to be removed with the roof complete. This was a very difficult project to complete in time, but completed it was by the grace of God. Additionally, a different contractor was used to complete the roof and the plastering of the upstairs walls. They have worked at a much faster and more productive pace than the previous one for which we are grateful to the Lord.

Two views of the building now with the upstairs completed. There is still some work going on above, so you will notice in the left picture a overhanging roof to protect cars and students from anything accidentally falling from the second story. In the right picture you can see that the steps are still temporary. When they are complete, they will be much more gradual with wider steps since students will have three classrooms on the second story.

After completing to this point, we were totally exhausted of funds and had to wait to determine what the Lord would provide.

To continue, click here to go to the next stage of the building process. While you are waiting for the new page, please pray for God to provide the finances needed to complete the rebuilding process.

10. FIRST FLOOR FINE-TUNING
September-October 2004

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