The school provided volunteers for the cleanup process.	By April 22, the building was cleared away.

AFTERMATH
Since the fire took place on a Saturday, the services of First Presbyterian Church, which were held in the building and pastored by Rev. Asgar Hamid (a former student of the school and now administrator), were held in the largest of the classrooms. During the school day, classes that had been meeting in the building that was destroyed were held under trees during dry weather and under the walk-way roof overhangs outside the other classes. Administration was moved to the house of Rev. Asgar Hamid, which was on the existing compound, but not damaged by the fire. Rev. and Mrs. Poettcker got an apartment a half mile away from the school, which was shared by other teachers and assistants from the school. God has clearly provided, but it was a frustrating ordeal and continuously unsettled.

Asgar Hamid teaching a class next to his house and near one of the high school buildings.	Rudy Poettcker teaches a class under a palm tree at the end of the volley ball court during the heat of the late morning. 100° heat in the shade.
Rudy Poettcker in his office in the living room of Asgar Hamid's house next to the school.

REBUILDING PLAN PROCESS
The process of rebuilding began even though the insurance settlement for the building had not taken place. At the moment, the final figures for the building had not been set because many things required extensive research on cost comparisons, however, the building itself began on July 14, 2003. Prior to that, a flurry of plans were sent back and forth between Suriname and the U.S. in collaboration with building. It would be some while before there would be enough money to complete the first stage of building (the first floor and cement floor of the second story, but we have proceeded on faith that this would resolve itself in time. The contractors with whom we were working were Christians, and were unusually helpful in the planning and rebuilding process, even to loaning the school a construction container for use as an administrative office while the building was being built.

Efforts begin to reroute the water piping for the school.	Perry, the Suriname contractor on the left, collaborates with Rudy Poettcker (center) and Asgar Hamid (right) on the second-floor balcony of Asgar Hamid's house overlooking the school property.

We had been in discussions, at the time of the fire, with the same contractor about building a second-story addition to the existing building (the one that burned). Engineering tests indicated that the columns for the then existing building were sufficiently footed and reinforced to carry a second story. The fire verified the fallacy of this, and saved us incredible agony in possible damages from building further on the then existing foundations. As a result, the new building was designed to be built out of cement block instead of wood, and also was designed to be a bit bigger. The insurance settlement for the old building did not fully cover the cost of rebuilding it. However, there was no sense in rebuilding it without including the new building plans, so the new building was planned to be a two story multi-purpose complex which would house both the school, some classrooms, its administration office, as well as the church meeting place all on the first floor.

THE PLANS

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.

3. NEW SCHOOL YEAR PREPS
June-July 2003 Fire Update

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