The roof of Africa!

Well not quite this one… The roof of Africa is a rally which is raced in Lesotho and this year it started today!

The main streets of Maseru where cut off for the bikers to do their time trials, that done traffic resumed and they headed of to the mountains as I headed off to site.

Work on the reconstruction is progressing well, although I am still having some problems with the contractor. But that is nothing new anyway…

Staring at a blank wall…

Yesterday was a productive day having had teams from Micon and also Playpumps visit the site, but today I was left staring at a blank wall.

Just before I left the office yesterday I phoned Linakane and discovered that the assessor for the insurance company would visit the LCCU today. When I said I wanted to meet him he seemed anything but happy about it! So when I asked him at what time he was coming I assumed he would lie!

As he had told me 3pm I geared up for 2:30pm only to discover that his lie ran a lot deeper. 9:30am was when he took the guy there so of course I didn’t manage to meet him!

I’m annoyed by it not only for not having met the assessor but because I do not like to be taken as a fool!

Hail

The weather is going crazy!

Look at that, this is the middle of the summer! Anyway the day was not dominated by these bizarre meteorological events but by trying to clarify the Building Regs and organizing a fire plan.

The Building regs in Lesotho have a small glitch (in the way that they have been worded) which would actually meant that thatch would be an illegal material but as even the government is building with it and all the traditional house are like that I have been trying my best to demystify this…I've got one letter saying that it is acceptable but maybe I will be luckier tomorrow.

I also took the Security Unlimited Fire Chief to visit the site. And he will now help us elaborate a good evacuation and fire protection plan.

Gamble

This past week was all a bit confusing.

Work carried on site and the contractor decided to gamble that all will be approved as before. I do hope so!

He has managed to work at a reasonably good speed and all I want now is for the assessor from the insurance company to come so that we can strip down those walls and get on with it.

No work this weekend (pay day) so that gives us a little more time to organize and try and conclude everything before the next big push!

Candles

In the light of the recent events I was a bit nervous whether we should celebrate my birthday with candles but I decided that taken the proper precautions it would probably be safe!

Now seriously! And please do not be offended by my sometimes inappropriate humour. I’ve spent the last few days collecting data and trying to find ways of improving the fire resistance of not only the thatch but of our building in general.

We are now very close to a decision and I do hope that it comes soon as we are all eager to continue to work at a good rhythm! (precautions will be taken of course!)

Go ahead

This Saturday I met (once again) Eng. Lebohang Phooko on site.

Once more it was very helpful of him to come and assess the site. From our findings the building did not sustain any major structural damage from the fire. There has still been considerable material damage but the structure is OK and that is great!

Part of the reason is that being thatch, low density material, the fire consumed itself quite quickly! And then the fact that we had screeds and render on the walls also helped to protect the structural elements.

So with that crucial information the contractor is getting ready to go ahead. However we are still waiting to see what the final decision on what measures will be taken to make the roof safe!

All cleared up

This would be a good thing, had the insurance company advised exactly the opposite!

I tried to prevent the contractor but still he decided that he couldn’t wait anymore and that something had to happen… One of the reasons why the insurance company has not assessed the site yet is that he has not put in a claim for it yet.

I’ve been chasing him but I hope that this and a confusion between him and the broker will not cause him to loose his claim.