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Monday, March 4, 2013

First Part of our House



It is a great sight and a wonderful feeling to see the first part of our house go up little by little.
Thank you to those of you who made it possible and are still making it possible for us.  It is now a year and five months that we have been living in some big tents which we have adapted very nicely to live in.  We put shading net on the ground like carpets, using camping chairs and put up shading net on the sides to keep critters and insects out.And it worked pretty well.  One thing that is awesome about living like that is how close you experience nature during the day and especially at night.  All the sounds are always very clear and vivid.  It makes you feel like you are right there in among it all. This we will miss once we live in a house because it cuts you off from all the wonders of the Lord especially at night.  
But we think we will still sleep outside especially during the hot season because it's almost impossible to sleep in a house when it is so hot.  
But as the winter approaches we're going to enjoy our house. 

Here are some pictures we want to share with everyone to show how things are advancing.  

First I want to introduce all of you to three brothers who felt it on their heart to help us start the first part of the house. 
 They are Lindani, Thulani, and Sipho.







 Lindani and Stephanus doing some preplanning on a few important particulars of the building.  
He just finished his own Zulu block brick house similar to ours.  And we want ours the same as the local people. 



The stone for the foundation and floors had to be brought in with a 4x4 tipper truck.  This truck even though it was 4x4 almost got stuck because of the deep sand!  And just as he wanted to put it in reverse, his reverse gear broke and caused us quite a struggle.  


We marked out the foundatin and started digging. 


Here we are mixing the  concrete for the foundation by hand. It's quite a back breaker!


Pouring the first part of the foundation.


Had to make a second mix because I thought it safer to pour it a little thicker than what the locals usually do.


The next day we started laying the cornerstones.  And built the first rows underground.  For all the bricks underground we stuffed the holes full of concrete.





Lemuel helping Daddy carry the block bricks.  He imitates his daddy in everything he does.  


Here we reached ground level and we're ready to put the first plastic between the rows to keep the moisture from going up into the brick wall.  All the boys decided to go try catching some fish in the lake.  But the only success was 2 Mozambique Talapia about 4 inches long!  So the ladies had to cook something else.


Rose busy cooking a delicious meal which we always enjoyed.



Thulani slicing one of our local wild watermelons.  If you've not have had a watermelon in a very long time you would enjoy it.  Normal watermelons just don't want to grow here.  They all rot up and hardly get bigger than your fist.  But these local watermelons grow like weeds.




Thulani mixing concrete to make the lintels for the doors and windows.  Here in Africa the mixed concrete is called dagga.  Lindani called Thulani our "Dagga Boy".  He protested heavily.  So it was decided that he would be promoted to chief of dagga management.
This time he was highly satisfied. And did a fabulous job!


Pouring and making the lintels that go above the doors and windows.  


The wall always rising higher.  


The boys helped doing odd jobs around the site.  Here they are picking up the dagga that fell to mix it in with the fresh dagga to minimize waste. Here you can see we're also fitting the doors and windows to make sure we don't struggle later.



Lindani carrying dagga to where he is building.


Sipho getting ready to lay the bricks on top of a layer of dagga or mortar.



As the walls are getting higher it gets more difficult to build.  A friend, Louwrens van der Westhuisen also a missionary in the area, lent their ladder and scaffolding to us.


The holes in the wall are where the dividing wall between the storage room and bathroom will connect.  



Smoothing out the mortar between the bricks to get it ready for a cement based paint.  A type of coloring that is mixed in a cement mixture  and then painted over the walls.  It seals and acts like a paint.  


Building wire into the wall about four bricks deep to tie the poles down that will hold the roof.  
It is to make sure that the roof stays on during heavy winds and storms like hurricanes.



Putting the lintels on and leveling it out for the next layer of bricks


Lindani putting air vents in for the bathroom.



Thulani smoothing out the mortar.


Getting towards the end of the brick work on the scaffolding.


Putting the first bluegum poles on for rafters.


Breaking and cutting holes for the poles to lay in the bricks. 
We will tie them with the wire and concrete them in.



Next is  the cross beams.where the metal roofing will lay and be nailed on.


Started to lay out the metal on the roof to get it square before we nail it fast.


Nailing the metal roof to the poles.



Almost finished!  
Only the dividing wall and floor still left to do before we put the bathroom in and racks for the storage room.  We already have the sink, toilet, and bathtub plus all the piping and the shower. This a dear young brother, Deon Leroux,15 yrs old, helped us to get. A special thank you, Deon!


We have all the cement for the floor and we have all the bricks for the dividing wall.  
But we still need cement to make the bricks for the second part of the house which will be our living room and schoolroom with an openplan kitchen.  This room will be big enough to also make a bedroom in one corner.  
We have all the metal roofing that we need for this part of the house. But we also still need the cement for the foundation and floor of this part of the building.

If it's on your heart to help us with the second part of the house let us know. Our email address is gotellmypeople@gmail.com










1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this post! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete