School Painting Project

For the Company's last humanitarian project, we painted eight classrooms for a local school. The school receives very little outside support and so we have been supporting it throughout our deployment with donated school supplies. During their summer break, we came by four times to repaint their classrooms and try to fix them up as much as possible. We first chipped out all of the old, flaking paint, then began to paint the classrooms. Working on a very slim budget ourselves, we could not afford drop clothes, so the last day was spent chipping paint off of the floor. We also used that last day to fix up as many of their desks and chairs as possible.

I went out 2 of the 4 days to help. The first day I chipped paint off of the wall and did a little (very little!) painting. The second day (also the last day), I spent chipping the paint off of the floor. So I did very little painting overall, but got in a great workout. I also did a lot of cleaning and helped fix up some of the desks and chairs. Overall, it was a very rewarding experience and we were all very happy with what we accomplished.

We also had lots of help from other units on Camp Lemonier as they helped out with the labor. I also liberated some photos from the CJTF-HOA PAO, as I did not take too many pictures myself. Here is an excerpt from the story which can be found here:

Camp Lemonier group helps ready school building for students
Story by MCC(DV) Robert Palomares, USN

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti -- More than 90 military personnel from Camp Lemonier volunteered their time recently to paint several classrooms at a K-8th grade school in downtown Djibouti in preparation for the upcoming school year.

Marine Corps Capt. Garth Massey gathered his group, made up of Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen, early in the mornings and led them in accomplishing the project. The group concluded the project over four days of work, Massey said.

“I’m glad to see so many people show up to do this work,” Massey said. “I’m grateful, and the students will be as well.” Classes are scheduled to begin in September.

The crumbling, peeling walls were in distressing shape before the volunteers marched into the school brandishing scrapers, masking tape, paint brushes and rollers. The Marine Corps volunteers from Camp Lemonier’s 4th Provisional Security Company purchased the paint the equipment for the job. Through private donations, the school also received more than 30 boxes of needed school supplies.

On to the pictures.

The XO moves furniture as we prepare to begin. (U.S. Navy photo by MCC(DV) Robert Palomares)
MSgt Perry tapes a window in preparation for painting it (we never did - we ran out of time & supplies.) (U.S. Navy photo by MCC(DV) Robert Palomares)
Here I am scrapping paint....(U.S. Navy photo by MCC(DV) Robert Palomares)
Two Marines fixing a desk. I actually took this photo. Moving a desk like this caused this...(disturbing image alert! Ok, too late....)
Yep, I pinched it good. The desk was upside down and it was the type that has the hinged top. I though I had a hand on the desk, but I actually had a finger in the hinge..

Its been about 4 days since I took that photo and the swelling has gone down. By the time I got back to Camp and the Docs tried to drill a hole through the nail to let the blood out, it was too late and very little came out. EMF looked at it and their consensus was to let nature take its course and let the nail fall out. I probably have another week until it does so. Humanitarian projects sometimes carry their own cost! But it was for a worthwhile cause.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti