The Foreman for the project |
Anyway, back to the security. Within a week or two, the steel fence posts had been cut in the middle of the night to be sold as scrap metal. This is one aspect of Uganda that I am still getting used to. Everything has value. No matter if it is a steel fence post, used plastic bottle, or plastic sack. Whenever I think about this I think about all the crap people leave in their yards back in the states. One raid of bigwheels, garden hoses, and planters would pay for a 3 month holiday from work. I talk about this flippantly, but it has drastic implications about both cultures. Don't want to start preaching so I will get back to the house we built.
It has 3 rooms that are all 10' x 12' - for those who don't know ' = foot :)
- for those who don't know :) = Smiley face
These guys loved to pose |
Basically it will end up having 2 bedrooms and a sitting room. This is a pretty decent set up here because it allows the parents to sleep in a separate room from the kids, which is kind of a luxury. We also built a small overhang that will work as a cooking area. This will allow his wife to avoid the rain while she is cooking over her charcoal stove.
As an organization we don't do anything extravagant...on purpose. Chris and I had been brainstorming how to make a latrine at minimal cost. Basically this means a hole in the ground with some sort of sturdy cover to allow you to squat over the hole and not fall in. This is a pretty traditional and common way to design toilets.
Hauling the dirt out one bucket at a time |
This isn't even at full depth |
Side story: We had been communicating with some local staff and the builders about how deep we would dig it. We were thinking that 10' or 12' (remember the lesson learned earlier in the post) would be pretty deep. They informed us that they were thinking more like 30'. What!!!! I thought this was a situation of miscommunication because there is no way they can hand dig 3 stories into the ground. Come to find out it wasn't. They actually ended up digging it 38' deep. Absolutely nuts. No miscommunication here.
Well this is getting long, like it always does, and I must say farewell till next time.
Good night and good luck.
Awesome post Brad! I really enjoy reading about your experiences over there. Not sure if you have heard of this but has anyone ever looked at using bio-gas, sometimes called gobar-gas, for cooking instead of charcoal? Simple explanation would be that it uses the trapped methane gas from fermenting poop from livestock and humans. The gas can be used for cooking/heat and the solid is then safe to use as fertilizer. I'm not sure of the initial investment cost but it may be cheaper over time compared to charcoal. I'm not going to claim to be an expert I've just read about it a few times from different sources and thought it may apply to the farm that you are building over there.
ReplyDeleteHana, "That is very nice of you Brad, and I miss you." Emilie, "I really miss you, and I like that house." Abra, "I miss you, Brad. I can't believe you built that house. It's a lovely house, I'll see you in November." Elia, "I like that the house is blue because it is my favorite color." Isaiah, "I'm glad you could help provide this family with this nice house. I really proud that you are my uncle."
ReplyDeleteDear Brad,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information on Andrews house. I really appreciate how you laid it out in a clear, concise manner and also already in blog format so I can just copy paste. How sweet of you.
-Jackie