What can you teach a layman about laying block in a four-hour crash course?

"If they can do their work without getting themselves or someone else hurt, I'll consider this a success," said Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers Local 1 apprenticeship instructor Jack Love.

On April 5, Love and some Local 1 apprentices were asked to give a very, very brief lesson in mixing mortar and putting up a block wall to three members of Northville Christian Assembly. The three are among an 18-member team of Assembly of God missionaries who have volunteered to rebuild the devastated infrastructure in Kosovo - specifically, they have been asked to construct a new community center.

One of the men expected to soon head off to Kosovo for a 10-day mission is Michael Sage of Livonia. The 43-year-old Detroit Edison construction manager has a good deal of experience in the building business, and he's been on similar working missions to places like El Salvador, Jamaica and Moldavia.

Sage, who is married with four children, spends his own money on the trips, uses his own vacation time, and does what he does because he believes in helping others to "rebuild physically and spiritually."

"The way I look at it, I can't preach, but I can build a block wall," said Sage at the Local 1 Training Center. "I've laid block before, but it's good to get a refresher. I'd hazard a guess that when we get there, we're going to be the most knowledgeable, so we'll be the most dangerous."

Love said his shortened curriculum will center around safety - the importance of wearing a hard hat, how to heft block without sustaining an injury, erecting scaffolding, and not working where your skull can get bashed in by a falling materials. Other lessons: mixing mortar, buttering block, and setting straight courses.

"We're giving them just a little knowledge to get them going," Love said. "I've never condensed 4,500 hours down to four, but hopefully this will help a little."

Sage said the natives of countries he has visited often don't have a high opinion of Americans, and consider us rich and selfish. "But when they find out we're here to help them, and we're paying our own way, they're dumbfounded," he said. "It amazes them and they're usually quite gracious."

Sage learned about the Local 1/International Masonry Institute Apprenticeship School during a job fair, and then asked for a little training in the craft. Joining him was Mark Wojtkowski, 36, a Northwest Airlines ground service worker.

"These guys are really nice, and they've shown us some great stuff," he said.

"This is just another example of union labor helping out, here, and across the pond," said Local 1 Business Manager Ray Chapman.

BAC LOCAL 1 apprentice instructor Jack Love, left, and Business Manager Ray Chapman, right, look on as Michael Sage learns the finer points of using a trowel.