Walls and Volunteers

In the last week, the foundation was completed and the walls were also near completion as of yesterday. A second order for materials was placed that included the roofing and timber items needed. The walls are constructed using hand-made brick, all donated by the village to make the Boma affordable. The brick are then laid in mud with the river water that is ported, 1 container at a time, to the construction site. There has been a steady stream of donations to the site: bricks, boulders and stones, water, labor, tractor use as needed and petrol, sand, and small amounts of food. These donations have been provided by an estimated 300 villagers and 700 pupils who are “dismissed” early to help port water or bricks. The Boma could not be built in either the timeline or with the budget we have if it were not for the volunteers. Each night around 8pm, a chairman goes through the village clanging a gong then loudly announces what is needed at the site for the next day.

The house itself was designed by the school district architect. It is a 3-bedroom staffing house laid out for rural settings. It is massive and “modern.” The elders are walking by in awe because there is no other Boma like it in the village. It could house 4-6 unmarried teachers and I have been told over and over that 839 pupils to 11 teachers is “a problem” and that they have been waiting for more teachers; the District has been waiting to send teachers when housing was provided. It is the goal to have at least 2 new teachers in the home by early September.

The task for this next week will be the roofing and the floors of the rooms. The floors will require more tractor use and excavating boulders from the nearby hill. Additionally, as you see in the pictures, we desperately need small stone for the concrete mix. To get this, they use a hammer and break up the stones into small pieces. We need about 300 buckets full of small stone over the next week.The manual labor involved in this entire project astounds me.

All the volunteers deserve high praise. I attempt to shake hands and personally thank each and every one, every day.And I do my fair share of hard labor as well.