Please note the addition to the title of the blog! 100,000 Bricks!
Tuesday, July 24. One of our visits that day was to Mgomo village. They have been very active in the Eagles program. They have cleared and improved some roads, planted trees, and built a bridge! The bridge will eventually be built more permanently with bricks. A good thing after seeing the bridge later in the week! Large rocks, poles of tree trunks and some nails which are already breaking most likely from the weight of the motorbikes they are brave enough to take across.
But the bigger reason for the bricks is a desire to create two houses for teachers. The area has teachers but for several reasons, their actual attendance at school can be sporadic. The Government will not provide teachers unless there is housing available. So, in the spirit of the Eagles philosophy of using the skills and resources of the villages, the churches have mobilized to make 100,000 bricks!
Brick making requires workers, water, a good dirt and clay product, the best being an anthill, a place to lay them out to dry, sand to cover them while they dry so they do not crack, stacking them for curing with fire and mud to cover the makeshift kiln.
We got to see the first few steps in the process. There were 5 workers, water, good product from the huge ant hill nearby, and the school football (soccer) field to lay them out to dry, and of course, sand because there is always sand! The field is available because school is out right now.
So, the project is well underway and we will look forward to news of the completion of
Tuesday, July 24. One of our visits that day was to Mgomo village. They have been very active in the Eagles program. They have cleared and improved some roads, planted trees, and built a bridge! The bridge will eventually be built more permanently with bricks. A good thing after seeing the bridge later in the week! Large rocks, poles of tree trunks and some nails which are already breaking most likely from the weight of the motorbikes they are brave enough to take across.
But the bigger reason for the bricks is a desire to create two houses for teachers. The area has teachers but for several reasons, their actual attendance at school can be sporadic. The Government will not provide teachers unless there is housing available. So, in the spirit of the Eagles philosophy of using the skills and resources of the villages, the churches have mobilized to make 100,000 bricks!
Brick making requires workers, water, a good dirt and clay product, the best being an anthill, a place to lay them out to dry, sand to cover them while they dry so they do not crack, stacking them for curing with fire and mud to cover the makeshift kiln.
We got to see the first few steps in the process. There were 5 workers, water, good product from the huge ant hill nearby, and the school football (soccer) field to lay them out to dry, and of course, sand because there is always sand! The field is available because school is out right now.
So, the project is well underway and we will look forward to news of the completion of
100,000 bricks!
This is great!!
ReplyDelete