The next chapter in our lives revolves around buildings. The house where we were staying was really nice, and we had a wonderful Landlord, but the location and the lack of space around the house soon became a real problem. The one neighbour’s dog had a habit of barking at the slightest noise, but then the other neighbour also decided to get a dog. The dog was given about 1 meter of chain which resulted in a week of sleepless nights as the poor animal kept howling. There was a pathway used by the motorcycles and pedestrians right past the one side of the house also. These problems were further compounded by the fact that a workshop building would be essential for making water pumps and doing skills training. We simply had to move.
In May we found a very nice house that was still being built. There was also space at the back where the workshop could be built. The next couple of weeks were quickly absorbed by drawing up building plans, budgets and rubbing shoulders with local artisans involved in the “completion” of the house.
By the middle of June we had a letter from the town planner granting us permission to commence building.
The next step was to get a builder, and as it turns out we found someone really competent who has a great sense of humour. We are looking at a possible friendship that is going to last for many years.
One of the church members was contracted in to make building blocks. We were very impressed with his attitude and workmanship. Sadly I had bought the wrong grade of cement which resulted in blocks that were far weaker than what they should have been.
By the last week of June we slowly began to move our things over from the other house, but by the end of the month the house was still too far from being ready to move in.
The tilers only stayed until the first week of July, and then they all left to go and do other work. It appears the landlord did not pay them for progress that was made and therefore they didn’t feel obligated to complete the work. We were left with a house without one complete bathroom. The one tiler returned after a couple of days and very graciously completed the bathroom for the master bedroom.
The work outside the house moved along very rapidly. We soon had the wall for the perimeter completed. The one side and the front of the house are still open and exposed to undesirable people having access to everything outside , but we are in the process of putting up a fence that will at least stop people from just walking in. The main reason for putting up a fence in the front and not a wall is because we want the community to feel that we are very much a part of them, and not wanting to isolate ourselves completely.
The water tower was completed at the end of July which meant that we could have running water in the house.
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