We are on our 3rd day of sunshine after weeks of rain and the international volunteers at La Giraudiere are as busy as a hive of bees getting the house in ship shape and learning new skills in the process. Before focusing on his Volunteer Program, Paul worked in construction and apprenticed a few of the local young men in Brossac who, on Tuesday, were kind enough to come join us and volunteer with the construction work. They helped Paul and Dan, a 19 year old from Liverpool, get some of the heavier building done while Brianna and Courtney, both young ladies from the United States, put a fresh coat of paint on one of the finished Gites. Everyone worked well as teams and had the place looking great after only one morning!

Yesterday we were helped by Patrick, a friend of Paul’s from England who is 72 years old and 80 percent blind but still restores antiques by feel. He demonstrated for and supervised Courtney and Brianna as they learned some furniture renovation skills. He taught them how to restore the ornate, wooden display cupboard that Paul found damaged back into a piece of gleaming art. It certainly looks better than it did when it was covered in dust in the corner of the derelict building!

Patrick assesses a 200 year old Cherry Wood Cabinet

After learning about all of the metal, wood, and cement cutting tools and machines Dan moved to cutting the grass and learning about all of the gardening tools. Now that the sun has come out, everyone feels called to do gardening and work out in the sunshine! Soon the garden will be looking as good as new!