Latest News from the site, dated 14/10 2000

We have finished the roofing, laid the foundation, fitted the doors and windows - and made a ringbeam.

In Europe we don't use ringbeam, because the walls are dobble walls. But here, when we use machine dressed bricks, only 4 inch wide, or any local bricks being 6 inch wide, there has to be a ring beam. The problem with the ring beam made of concrete is, that the cement pours more or less down on the bricks, and the bricks then look dirty.

So while I was over there, I got an idea to take rectangular pipes, 2 x 1 inch, and use those for ring beam. It is cheaper, and that way the bricks will look uniform on the outside and on the inside the plastering will cover the pipes, so they will not be seen. It is a very advance building method, because both doors and windows are now solid angered. It is also more solid than a traditional ringbeam made of concrete. The disadvantage is, that we have to cut some of the machine dressed bricks with a granding maschine to shape them. But when I go back to inspect the job, I will take the generator and the granding machine, so we will do it as the walls shoot up. I am sure it is going to be a very nice looking building.

Mwaniki is now building the partitioning (sorry for wrong spelling) for the building. And he has 2 good helpers. I don't want a big crew, that will make the building to look like a mess.

2 nights the watchmen (we had to hire a watchman with a gun during the nights) came and told us to switch off our lights. And we had to go into the tents. One evening, he told that there had been 10 gun shuts close to the place, and the next morning it was discovered, that 6 people were killed! There is a lot of army around in the area. They are attacking the tripe, which is stealing cows (they are called something like kalomojong).

Another thing I saw was that quite a number of the people in the village are wearing awful clothes. We were there the 9th of October (day of independence) and people were really drinking alcohol. Our workers said that the problem of this place is, that people are not educated, and they hide themselves and their problems in drinking. There was especially one lady, for whom I felt so sorry. She was not drinking, and she was a christian, and she was pregnant. She already had a lot of children, and I found out, that one of the workers we had, that he was a son of this lady. I said to myself, that I wished, that the husbands could take better care of their wives, but when I saw her husband, he was dressed the same way - very bad and poor like the wife. But their children looked nice and next time, when I go over there (in about 3 weeks time), I will bring them some clothes here from Kenya.

I also realized, that the culture/tradition is different from Kenya. People try even more than in Kenya to take advantage of white people. They are bigger beggers than here in Kenya. So buying goods/items like we bought the bricks became difficult. But I found my way, so that Peter, one of the Ugandan workers, was trading on behalf of me, and if there was problems, I just let him take care of those problems. I maybe feel, that now I have a better knowhow of where to buy things and how to cooperate with the Ugandans. Concerning the finances - when I come back from Busia with the lorry, I will look into it. My guess is, that building in Uganda is probably 30% more expensive in Uganda than in Kenya. Wages are a little bit cheaper in Uganda than here, but materials are more expensive, like also fuel is more expensive.

God bless you.

Soren and Birgitte