Click on a photo to see a larger
version:
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The proud mother holds her newborn
baby. She named her child 'Sanu', 'Joy' in Lusoga, after one of
our team members. |
| The house as it stood on Friday
morning. |
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Dave works on pointing a wall
(pointing: using a metal rod to create the half-pipes between the
layers of brick) |
| Two of the local masons work on the
triangular portion of the wall on which the roof would lie.
Notice the wooden pole holding a string used to ensure the bricks are
at the proper slope. |
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A look from the other side of the house. Once the interior walls were finished, Etoke (the roofer) could begin placing the A-frames. |
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Dave peeks over one of the walls on
which he is working. Notice the bricks with patterned holes in
them over the window - these were placed for ventilation.
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Building the A-frames was both
difficult and interesting. Here, Jared helps Etoke nail pieces
together. |
| Jared,
Mike, Dave and I insisted on doing all the sawing for Etoke - this
saved lots of time as he could design a joint, then move onto the next
one while we prepared it. Also, it meant he wasn't exhausted
after just a few hours! |
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VIDEO
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One of the most interesting things
I observed in Uganda was the straightening of a curved piece of
wood. In order to straighten a wooden plank, a wedge was inserted
into a cut which in the wood - this video shows Etoke making one such
wedge using a machete. |
| Once the wedge was created, a cut
was made into the wood - but not all the way through it - and the wedge
was hammered into this slit. |
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The wedge was then cut flush with the wood and a metal strip was nailed into place to secure the joint. This process was sometimes done two or three times along a piece of wood until it was straight. In this manner, they were able to use all of the wood they purchased without throwing any away. |
| In this video, Etoke is securing
two wooden pieces together using metal strips. Watch how he
hammers a hole in the metal strip, then removes the nail and re-hammers
it at an angle to ensure the metal trip is in tension. And yes, I
know that I'm a big dork :-) |
 VIDEO
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The
wood we were using was so fresh, it seeped water whenever we hammered a
nail into it. |
| Some
of the local children play during one of our breaks. |
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A second layer of scaffolding was
added to allow us to reach the peaks of the walls. |
| Here, Etoke is placing some bricks
with patterned holes in them at the top of the wall so the house has
some ventilation. |
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This morning, we were served a
porridge made from maize and water - it tasted very much like cream of
wheat. |
| Because the walls of the house were
made of brick, Etoke had to attach wooden planks to the tops of the
walls before the roof structure could be placed. Notice how the
wooden planks are attached using metal strips which were mortared into
the wall. |
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Etoke climbs a ladder made of tree
branches. |
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Building a house will definitely do
away with any fear of heights!
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Here, Etoke (pink shirt), Mike
(blue shirt), Okware (off-white shirt) and Dave (green bandana) prepare
to erect one of the A-frames. |
| The
A-frames are all erected and secured - next step, the tin roof! |
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(From left to right) Tymberlee Eden
and Shannon climb a tree to get a better view of all the sexy men
working (either that or they wanted to see the house, but I like the
first better). |
| 'Mzunga Paul', the Peace Corps
volunteer, in his house in Eza Gaza, a village 4km from Bululu. |
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