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version:
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A squat-pit latrine. This is
what we used instead of a toilet during our stay in Bululu. It is
built over a hole which is easily ten meters deep and despite what you
might expect, the inside does not smell very bad and they are quite
easy to get used to. |
| Everyday, one lucky person would
get to ride to the worksite on Reverend Charles' motorcycle - this
morning, it was Joy's turn! |
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The house as it stood on Wednesday
morning. |
| Dave and Tymberlee mix the dirt
with the cement to make mortar. In order to save money, the
mixture was one part cement, four parts dirt. |
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Okware works on the door of the house. Putting the doors in was one of the trickiest parts - the width had to be just right and without electrical sanders, shaving of layers of wood is both difficult and tiring. Note the strings used to ensure the bricks are straight. |
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Here, I (Nicholas) am working on
one of the windows. Needless to say, this will be the most
unsightly part of the house ;-)
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Our baby goat friend found what we
were doing quite interesting and insisted on having a look every now
and then. |
| Eden
dances while working. This brought the entire operation to a halt
- it's not often that the men of Uganda have a chance to see a
beautiful American former model dance while building a brick
wall. Come to think of it, it's not often that I get to see that
either. |
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Dave pauses for a smile while
working on one of the corners. In the background is Simon, one of
the local Habitat representatives and a wonderful person. |
| At lunchtime, we saw a chameleon
like none we had ever seen! I tried looking up the name of the
species, but couldn't find it. |
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Once
the windows were in place, wooden boards were used to create a short
wall above the windows spanning almost the entire width of the house... |
| ...then
we used hammers to crush large rocks into small ones and added them to
the mortar... |
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...we then poured the mortar into
the volume formed by these walls and let it dry. This is done to
prevent cracks which form above the windows from making their way to
the lower part of the wall. |
| Here, a local woman is spreading a
mixture of cow-dung and water on the porch of her house - this is done
to keep dust from the porch from entering the house. Every woman
there was this flexible - they have to be to do all they do.
Also, notice the clothes drying on the bushes in the background. |
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One of the local employees
celebrates a day of productive work. |
| The gent closest to the corner of
the house is named Paul - he is in the Peace Corps (the kids called him
'mzunga (white-man) Paul'). We spoke at length about the Peace
Corps - it was very informative. |
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