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version:
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The Habitat for Humanity banner
flies in front of the center of the village. Muterere is the
sub-county, Bugiri is the district. The actual village shown in
this picture is called Bululu. |
| Laundry being washed in the morning
sun. We were encouraged to allow the local women to do our
laundry so we could pay them. |
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The house as it stood on Tuesday
morning. |
| One of the local workers climbs
into a tree to cut down branches. These branches would be used to
build a scaffolding around the house. |
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Here, the gent is cleaning the branch before handing it to us to transport it back to the work site (about a two minute walk away). |
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Once the branches are delivered to
the work site, they must be 'planted' in the ground. Here, a hole
has been dug, the branch has been placed in the ground, and Marian is
using another branch to compress dirt and small rocks into the hole.
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When the vertical supports are
ready, a crossbeam is laid across the top of the house's wall and tied
to the vertical support using rope. Here, Dixon (one of the
foremen) teaches Mike how to do this. |
| (From
left to right) Eden, Joy, Shannon, Okware (brick-layer extraordinaire)
and Bonnie pause for a picture. |
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The Reverend Charles helps Eden and
myself (Nicholas) with one of the scaffolding supports. |
| Okware and myself (Nicholas) work
on one of the corners. Here, Okware is using a plumb-bob to
ensure the wall is properly vertical. |
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Okware
at work - notice how he is using a string to ensure the corner is
even. The attention to detail at the work site constantly
impressed me. |
| Once
erected, the scaffolding is quite solid, despite its appearance!
Here (from left to right) Eden (on ground), Dave, Mike, Jen, Okware
(leaning over) and Marian work on one of the walls. |
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During our tea break, Tymberlee let
her hair down to brush some of the dirt out of it. The local
children were mesmerized - they had never seen hair like hers before! |
| Here, the local children are eating
beans (in the bowls) and a dish called callo (cah-low) made of cassava
flower and sorghum. More on this dish later. |
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Here, Okware (on left) and the
Reverend (on right) are putting the finishing touches on a wall.
Okware is doing something called 'pointing' - it involves using a small
metal rod to create the half-pipe between each layer of bricks.
The Reverend is brushing the mortar off the faces of the bricks using a
wire brush. |
| The doors arrive! Betsy helps
unload the doors from the truck. Behind her is the stack of
bricks - you can see how we have picked out the best ones and set them
aside for use later. |
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Progress! Notice how we have
finished two of the walls and have begun building the triangle on the
right wall. |
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Once the bricks are laid, mortar
must be slapped on the sides of the wall to ensure all spaces are
filled with mortar. This became more challenging as the wall got
higher!
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Shannon and Mike fill in the cracks
with mortar. |
| This
boy is starving - one of the tell-tale signs of food depravation is a
protruding stomach. Having seen children like him, I will never
waste food again. |
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On the way to the rock formation,
we stopped by the village's bore hole (well). The containers they
are holding are usually balanced by women on their heads! |
| The rock formation which we climbed
- I would estimate the top is about 50 meters above the surrounding
plains. |
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The view from the top was breathtaking. Sunset over eastern Africa - just beyond the mountain chains in the distance lies Kenya. |