Saturday 27 July 2013

Progress, Problems and Max's visit

Since the title of this post starts with Progress, I think that's what I'll start with. We've come along way since I last posted. As per usual, it's been ages since I've found the time to sit down and write, so I'm pretty far behind. My last blog post took us to the top of the walls, and we were about to ready to do the lenter foundations. We finished that a good week or so ago now, and have since finished the roof, plastering the inside and outside of the house, fitting the windows and doors, along with the glass, the ventilation vents and started applying gypsum to the walls. It won't be long until we have finished now. I must admit, the whole process has slowed right down, it's hard to see as much of a change day to day as you could when we started the project. It's still nice to go there though, the finishing aspects of the projects I find are the most satisfying. It's very relaxed there, and you know that really soon the family will be moving in. As expected, we have gone over budget a little bit. There have been so many hidden costs, and alongside with the car it's started to stress me out a little bit. Before Max came, I was working very long days. I think I took on too much. I was sorting out things for volunteers with getting kids into school, managing things at the project, and having problems with the car. I managed to get myself a bit overtired, and ended up losing all motivation and energy for a few days. It wasn't until yesterday that I came out of it and stopped constantly sleeping. I feel better today. I woke up earlier than the past few days, met George in town, who I'll tell you about later, and gave him money to get to the project, then headed home to get on with this blog!



One of the problems I have already mentioned. Which is about going so far over budget. Unfortunately, the original quote which Bonge gave me was way off on quite a few things. The amount of extra materials we needed is shocking, and Adam and I have spoken to him in depth about making sure that the next quotes are more reliable. The main one is the cement. On the original quote it said we would only need 35 bags, but we are coming up to using seventy now. There are plenty of other things but I won't go into them too much, it's a bit boring. It's hard to keep an eye on every bag of cement being used, as I'm not at the project 24/7. However, I have come up with a rule that after every bag of cement is used, Bonge keeps the bag and stacks it to one side, so that I can count at the end of the day how many have been used. I'm still learning, and a lot of things which I have learnt on this project will benefit me so much on the ones to come. That problem isn't quite as interesting as this one. Max arrived last Wednesday, and during the short time he was here, we had quite a lot to do. We needed to be at the project each day, at least every morning,  to make sure things were running okay and if there was anything we needed to pay for. The following Saturday, the day didn't go as smoothly as hoped. Max and I left early, around six thirty, and arrived in Duka Bovu just after seven. When I got there, I went inside and there was some obvious tension between the builders. Bonge called me into the room and apologised for what he was about to say. He explained that the builders were very angry that they hadn't been paid for the last few days of work, and that they had decided to leave. I tried to level with them, but they wouldn't listen. They packed up there things and left the site and village within twenty minutes of us arriving there. George, who I had picked up that morning from where he sleeps on the street, had to wait in the back of the car until we sorted it out. Adam was away that weekend, so I called him to explain what was happening, and asked if he could call Bonge to see what he said. When Adam called me back, I was quite shocked to hear what had happened. Two of the builders, had gotten extremely drunk the previous night, and had caused a lot of trouble in the guest house. They had vocally abused one of the local Mama's. Swearing in Tanzania is extremely frowned upon, and especially towards an elder, it's almost a crime. The Mama who they had been rude to, called the police the previous night and the police had planned to come the following morning. This was why the builders had left in such a hurry, it was merely to escape the police. I wasn't best pleased. However, I was happy that they had left. I don't want people like that working for me. We managed to get it sorted, and found another builder for the day to help with the plastering.



I'll tell you a little more about George. Most nights when I go out in Arusha, on the way home, I often get some chips mayai to eat. Close by where you by the food, there are a lot of street children sleeping on the side of the roads. A week or so before Max came, I picked three children up from the street, all aged about fifteen, who had run away from home because of problems with their family. It really upsets me when I see children on the street, in my head it's completely wrong, they don't deserve it. So, I always try and help out a little bit and buy a few of them some food for the night. One night when I went there, I actually went over to where they sleep and had a chat with some of them. It's a surprisingly nice environment, social wise. Quite a few of the kids are sniffing glue which is difficult to see, but others seemed more switched on. They all range in age. Some are as young as ten, and some are a lot older, between eighteen and twenty. I always think when I see them what I was doing when I was fifteen, I had everything I needed, free school, a nice bed, warm and safe home to sleep in, and always food to eat. I feel guilty when I see them, so I decided I would do something to help. One kid who I spoke to, and had relatively good English was called George. George is eighteen, and is originally from Kenya. He has been living on the street for six years. He left home after his father died and there was nobody to support him. He's a smart kid, and I decided to give him a chance at something. After meeting him, I went back a few days later with my friend Lukas, so he could translate. I offered George the chance to work on the site as a labourer, and had Lukas explain what Max and I were doing here. He was keen, and we agreed to meet him the next morning at seven thirty. He was there on time, so we drove out to Duka Bovu together with Max. Max and I had a job to do that day around mid-day so we left site around eleven. I asked Bonge to keep an eye on George for me, and let me know how he did that day, and to be honest with me later whether or not he worked hard enough.



Our job that day was to meet a girl called Alice, from the UK, and look  at a project which she wanted to do. Alice volunteered here a while back, and similar to how I did with Mama Mary, she met a family living in appalling conditions and wanted to build them a new home. The house is in a place called Ungelelo, not too far from where I live actually. First we went and picked up Anna, the director from the school where Alice volunteered, and her co-worker Ernest. Then we drove to Ernest brother's house to park the car, and walked towards where the house is. It wasn't too far a walk from where we parked the car to the house, and I could already see how this project would be difficult to do. There was no access to a road near by, the terrain was very green and it the rainy season it would be almost impossible to transport materials. However, despite this, it would definitely be a cool project to do. The house they live in is appalling. Very similar to Mama Mary's, it's made from mud and wood, and is slowly collapsing. It's on a slope, but there is some flat land next to the house which after a bit of ground work, would be good to build on. The Mama, who's name I've forgotten was very happy to see us and extremely welcoming. I explained to Alice that it would be difficult to do but Max and I were very keen to jump on board. We talked about ways to transport materials and where to store them, too. Max and I headed back to the project in Duka Bovu, after arranging to meet Alice the following morning with Bonge so he could have a look and work out a quote for her. We got back to the site that afternoon. Bonge was pleased with George's work, so I gave him 10,000tsh for the day. I explained that we wouldn't be working on Sunday but that he would be able to work again on Monday.



Max and I went out for a bit that evening, and popped over to the street kids to see George again. George told Lukas, who translated to me, that he had already deposited 10,000 for a room in Arusha, and that he just needed another five thousand to pay for the month. I explained that he could pay the extra the following Monday when he gets his next wage. I knew George was smart from the first time I met him, and I was extremely happy that he had gone straight to get a room instead of spending the money on alcohol or something else which he didn't really need.



The following day on Sunday, Adam, Max and I planned to drive to Babati to look for another housing project. By the time we got to Duka Bovu, I was already having numerous problems with the car, so I called off going to Babati, and decided that I would go home to talk to Danny about the car. I left it with Adam and Max, as there were going to go to Monduli to look for the next project. This is around the time that I got really tired and just slept for ages. I went home that afternoon, spoke briefly to Danny about the car and then passed out until around 8pm, I woke up, ate some food and went around to Heriets, and then just fell asleep there too.



I'm not sure exactly what we did on Monday, I think we just made sure everything was going okay at the project and then had a bit of a chilled one. I've just arrived home from the project, it's looking great! All of the floor is finished, and the outdoor toilet will be finished by the end of the day. All that is left to do is paint the walls! Hurray!



Monday 8 July 2013

Project Dora

A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll fill you in as much as I can. The most important thing is that I have finally started to build Mama Dora's new house.


I had initially planned to start building on Monday, but unfortunately my builder wasn't available until Thursday. To be honest, the whole situation wound me up a bit, and my start to the week didn't go too well. I had spent the whole of Sunday with Bonge, and we had agreed to start building the next day. I woke up to a message from Adam informing me that Bonge wasn't available and that he had gone to another job. I was understandably not very happy, so I spoke to Bonge and explained that I was taking off money from his labour charge and that if something similar happened again, I'd find another builder. The next day, the same happened again. I text Bonge to explain that I was looking for another builder, but I didn't hear back from him and I couldn't find another builder quickly enough. Later that day, I spoke to Adam who had spoken to Bonge. Bonge had said that he sent three builders there to find somewhere to stay for the project, and that they would be starting on Thursday. I didn't really have a choice but to keep on with Bonge, and to be honest, I think it was a good idea in the end not to find another builder, him and his team have been working extremely hard, the progress has been fantastic. 


After having a rough day on Wednesday I had a bit of a heavy night, and struggled to get up in the morning, but I got there eventually. I met some volunteers the night before, Tyler and Scott, who are from Virginia. I told them about what I was doing and invited them along the next day to help with digging the foundations. We all got stuck in that morning, and got pretty far very quickly. Bonge said that it would be a good idea to buy some bricks that day so that the following morning they could start laying them straight away. We needed three hundred bricks, and could only fit fifty in the car at a time so we ended up having to do six trips. We spread them out whilst doing other things, and got there eventually. Before I knew it, it had started to get dark so we headed back in to town. Adam drove us to the clock tower, as Scott, Tyler and I had decided that we wanted a burger before heading home. We had a laugh, as we had done all day, and then Adam drove them both home before heading back to Moshono. I was so tired, and was asleep within an hour or so. I knew I had to get up early in the morning to be out there again.


Unfortunately the next day we didn't have a vehicle, so we had to use public transport. It wasn't that bad to be honest, just a little inconvenient. When I arrived the builders had already started laying bricks and I could see the shape of the house already. Initially we had planned to build two rooms to house Mama Dora and the children she looks after. However, doing it that way would have cost too much money so we decided to do the three rooms together. Giving her two rooms to live in and one for rent, except it would be attached. There's a dividing wall and a separate door though! Before the bricks were all used up, we decided it would be a good idea to buy the remaining 850. It costs me a fair bit, and due to not having a car, I had to pay for a truck to deliver the bricks but it wasn't too bad in the end. Originally, the quote stated that each brick would cost 800tsh but we managed to find some for 700tsh, so the extra money for delivery wasn't too much of a problem. By the end of the day, the builders had finished laying three bricks high from the foundations all around the house, and started installing the iron rods used to secure the foundations below.


On the following day, Saturday, it was more of the same. The cement around the iron bars had dried up so the builders were able to start building up the walls. They work so quickly it's astonishing, and with only one break a day for lunch I really appreciate how hard they are working for this project. I bought them all a soda each and we sat and had a laugh on Saturday. I want to keep them happy and I think doing small things like that is really effective from a management point of view. A friend of mine, Ashley, who is a volunteer, came along with me that day to see the projects. She enjoyed herself and I was glad she got stuck in with the work. We had a short driving lesson too, as she'd never driven manual before. I was impressed, I think if I tried to drive a land rover straight off I would definitely stall it! We both left the site early as I had promised Ashley that we would go and see Mama Mary too so that she could see the first house which I built. She had seen the video of me surprising Mama Mary, and had wanted to meet her ever since. Unfortunately, Mama Mary was far from her bubbly self as she is in that video. Instead, she was extremely drowzy and complaining about back, neck, and leg ache. I asked her if she had been vomiting or had any stomach problems but she said that she had been fine in that sense. I thought it a good idea anyway to go and get her blood checked and she was showing very common signs of Malaria. We found a local hospital where they checked her blood and had the results just after a few minutes. Not to my surprise, she did indeed have Malaria. I bought her the medication she needed and the doctor and I explained how she needed to take it. I walked back with her, and for the whole way I was very sad. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that a single mother, looking after seven children, couldn't afford the medication for the most fatal disease in the world just because pharmacutical companies make a fortune off of them. It really made me feel sick. I don't often get down here anymore, I guess I have seen a lot so it takes a lot to make me feel down about it, but it really affected me. All I know now is that she is on the mend, and she'll be back to her normal self within a week or so. Bonge and the builders wanted to work on Sunday but I explained to them that I wanted them to have a day off, so that they could rest before working the next week. I don't think it's fair to expect the guys to work seven days a week. We're not in any particular rush with the project so there isn't much point in working for seven days a week. Also, secretly, I wanted a day off too, so that I could play football in the morning and relax for the rest of the day.


Football the next day however didn't happen. I was told to be there around ten, so I got there about 10.15. I warmed up a little bit and kicked the ball around with the other boys but after an hour, there was no sign of the other team. The last thing I wanted to do was wait around until 2pm when it is too hot to play, like I did last week, so I just went home back to bed. I didn't do much yesterday apart from hang around at home. I did meet up with a friend of mine called Lauchie though. He's an awesome dude from Australia who's work here is all based around getting kids from poor backgrounds and from not so good schools into better education. He sponsors all of his children into a school called Haradali. It's got a great reputation, it's extremely legit, and all in all is a wonderful school. It's not the cheapest, but definitely worth the money if you really want a child to get a good education. I'm thinking at the moment of trying to get Vicky and Agripina sponsored into that school so that I know when they are older they have a much better opportunity of succeeding. My aunty Gabriella has been interested in sponsoring a child for a long time, so I will be speaking to her soon about that!


Today there was even more progress with the house. By the time I arrived on site, around 10am, they walls were already right up to the top, they had started to dig the toilet behind, and were just waiting for me to pay for lenter wood so they good start the upper level foundations. These are similar to those above the foundations underneath the house. They secure the area around the top of the bricks with old bits of wood, and then place 10mm iron rods on top and cover them with cement. This is to ensure that the building can withstand the weight of the roof once we start to put it up! I've noticed that Bonge and his team are much more professional with the way they go about building than the builders I used for Mama Mary's house. It's pretty nice having the feeling that you have somebody reliable and trustworthy now that you can work with for all of your future projects. It benefits Bonge too, a constant source of income is always a good thing! I left today just before they finished as our second delivery of sand didn't turn up. Which meant they couldn't quite finish cementing the lenter foundations. It's not a problem though, like I said, we are in no rush, so we will just continue tomorrow and see how it goes!


Other than that I really haven't been doing much, twelve hour days most of the time sorting stuff out for the house, the car, and also keeping my books right is taking up all of my time. I'll post again soon once we've made some more progress!