TANZANIA CONSTRUCTION

WE ARE SO BLESSED AND GRATEFUL TO HAVE LOU DAVIS (WHO HAS BEEN HEADING UP THE ORPHANAGE CONSTRUCTION IN HAITI) WITH US IN TANZANIA TO SHARE HIS EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE TO HELP GET THE ORPHANAGE CONSTRUCTION HERE UNDERWAY!  READ HIS FIRST BLOG POST:

Our first week in Tanzania has been an interesting one, to say the least! Many things are the same here, but many are different, too. The crew of Tanzanians work very hard, and some even sleep in a shelter they built here on the grounds so they can start early and work late. The contractor is very good, and has accepted most of our methods even though they do things differently here. We also have been adaptable to their methods, using post and beam and doing the footers their way.

The first thing was to position and lay out the house, and start digging the footer trench.

After this was well started, it was off to the hardware store in Arusha for the PVC pipe we needed for the septic plumbing.

Meanwhile, we got a huge delivery of rebar, and started cutting and bending it for the footer assemblies and the columns ("posts"). Even Juma got into the act cutting rebar!

Two teams wired the footers and columns, and soon we had our first column!

Meanwhile there was trouble in the footer trenches. The land the first house is laid out on has a significant slope to it. In order to get the footer below ground on the low end, and level, we had to dig much deeper than originally planned on the high end. This was made much more difficult after the first foot or so when we ran into solid volcanic rock, which had to be chiseled out by hand (no pneumatic jackhammers to be found here!).

But the Tanzanian crew did the hard work (kazi ngumu) with good will and got it done. Last thing on the list is the foundation for the fireplace. Good work (kazi nzuri)!

The cement mixer arrived (thank goodness- the original plan was to mix on the ground!).

The work is going well and we are almost ready to pour the footers. We even had time to do a belated ground-breaking ceremony.

The Lord has blessed us with great weather, and everyone has been safe and healthy. Please pray for His continued provision for us, and consider coming on one of these trips with us! Tanzania is a beautiful country and a mission trip here will change your life!