Hamerkop

Sometimes it is just better to play it safe. Even with the lightning conductor masts approved this morning sometimes you still need that little extra…

I will leave in a couple of hours and will return only in January. All has been organized so that site will be checked frequently and I will know the results but as I have learnt its better safe than sorry and this time the site will be kept safe by my very own Hamerkop bird.

The Hamerkop myth is a very interesting one. It is believed that lightning is caused by a nesting Hamerkop so in order to prevent lightning from striking it was usual to have a Medicine Man help you site your house, then to compliment this you would install a statue of one to fool other Hamerkops that your house is already taken.

I have never been much of a believer in anything but many times locals know better!

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.

All still in the air

I have not been able to gather much information about what is going to happen.

I went to site this morning and had a look around. The damage is not as bad as I had thought but still I will let an engineer decide that (it will be done I hope Saturday).

Whilst I was there I gathered all the workers, and over a can of Coke, had a chat to them, thanking them for all their hard work and explaining the importance of not letting this knock us down, and that now we have to be even stronger and push even harder to finish what we have started.

Up in smoke

If God exists he must be a mean little being!

Two fires in less than a year and this time it was at the new LCCU! Everyone is OK, it’s just material damages but still we were so close…

Block A is almost intact, the roof did catch fire but it was possible to control it in time. Thank you to the Moshoeshoe 1 airport fire brigade for replying to our call for help!

But Block B is all burnt down. The plumber was welding some pipes when the fire ignited. Accidents happen to all but it is just so unlucky that it happened now. I guess it’s better now than with kids in the building but still we were nearly there…

Time now to assess and regroup and decide what to do, who knows this second time around the fenix will be reborn quicker!

God probably just doesn’t really care about the ones that work hard and suffer… or maybe he’s busy with something else, but then again I’m not a believer!

for more pictures click here

There is (still) hope

The reason why I have been absent these last few days has only been that up to now work has been going on smoothly so there is not much to report.

The thatch is slowly going up and by the end of the week we might have closed the roof of Block B, which is exactly what we need. Not to stop the rest of the work we have been painting and digging and preparing all the other bits which are also necessary to organize before we finish.

Not much to say, and in a way I hope that it continues that way!

The Lapa

The Lapa, a traditional feature of a Basotho home, is a kind of small yard defined by a small wall, it has many features and serves for different rituals and preparations durinhg a normal day. We do not have a traditional Lapa (although are internal courtyard is an interpretation of such) but now the entrance has also been defined by a small platform and a stub wall will soon be built on it.

The rest of the work is carrying on as planned. Some more thatch arrived this morning and we are now at 75% of Block B. Paint on Block A is speeding up and the Plumber and Electrician are doing their best.

If more thatch arrives tomorrow we should be able to close it by next week.

The funniest event of the day was whilst I was delivering tables and benches to the new LCCU there was a group policemen stopping cars, they did not stop me but when I reached the top of the hill there was another waving at me. I assumed he had been radioed by the others to stop me and check for my (unexisting) licence to transport oversize objects in my car. I nearly didn’t stop but as I slowed down and saw him running I decided I’d better do it.

He immediately got into my car and told me to drive fast! Puzzled I told him I couldn’t because of the load… But he told me that he was trying to catch a couple of thieves! So even with all the load I managed to take him down the hill before the robbers ran away and help him save the day!

Not just us

This morning I decided to visit the site for the new Cultural Village at Thaba Bosiu.

It is a much larger project than ours, but it’s also using thatch so I wanted to see how they were faring. Like us they have also run out of thatch, but with a team of 25 thatchers they are able to make up for any delays as soon as they have more. One of the small structure is completed in 3days and the larger ones in a period of up to 10days! Oh who I wish it was the same on our site.

What I do not wish, and I have to say was really surprised to see, where the kind of lack of attention to both detail and construction methods that I saw here. In the large structure I saw spans/openings of up to 2m without a lintel (some of them were already giving in). The depth and thickness of the foundations is also something that I would be concerned if I was involved with that project. But the worst problem of all is the location of some of the chalets, some are only 2m away from a 20m high land slide!

Is it possible that no one knows how to properly site a building?

Business as usual

After all the thrills of this last weekend business is now back to normal.

Yesterday the thatchers managed to grass another long section of the courtyard. Quite impressive! It gives me hope that maybe we are finally on the right track for completion!

This morning they were working on the exterior of the sae section but the weather is not in our side. Who now seems to be on our side is the contractor. We met early to discuss what will be the next steps for completion. We have 4 weeks and I want to see the building finished before I leave. It was agreed that he would order and organize all the materials we still need to complete the building by the end of the week!

The people that I had asked Friday to come and fix the Pump have finally shown up, and by the end of the day the pump should be working again.

Fit for 2 princes

Yesterday was the last stretch to get the LCCU in shape for today’s show and tell!

I woke up early and rushed to pick up the steel guy. Then I took him to site to start work on it! The idea was to get a section of it looking as finished as possible so as to show what the finished product might look like!

When I left the LCCU, to drive up to Butha-Buthe for a discussion about ideas of how to develop some sites up there, I was not quite sure if we would pull it off… But we did the Extreme make over was complete and a success! Thanks everyone for such a good job yesterday and this morning to get it looking so good!

The panels on the walls were a success and they will be even better now that our patrons have also made some! Everything went as planned although there was a bit of a snapping frenzy at one moment, but even that seemed to blow over quickly.

“I’d like to live here” was about the best compliment we could have got for all our work. I’m only sad that we could not use such a great opportunity to have Princes Seeiso and Harry open the building. But we will continue to work hard and hopefully soon it will not be just a section but the whole building which will be looking that great!

For more photos of today and latest LCCU photographs click here

Look who is here…

Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, have just paid a surprise short visit to the New LCCU site today!

This short visit is part of their current trip to the country to check up on Sentebale’s projects. For reasons that you will certainly understand I was not allowed to mention or comment on this trip until now… (in fact this post will only be published once it has publicly been announced where they are).

But that said, it was great to have them visit the site! One of the reasons why we were trying so hard to finish the building by November was to make it coincide with this visit, unfortunately it was not possible.

But still they visited the site, hard-hats and all, and I believe they liked it. Although we have not finished yet, we are now at a stage when it is possible to imagine what the building will look like once it is finished. And hopefully by Sunday when they will come again it will look even better!

Cleaning up

Aided by a group of Boys (they were more Men than boys) that Lydia had organized to help me, this afternoon we swept the site clean.

Picking left over materials, paper and plastics which had either been left on site by the previous contractor, or by the current.

The electrician, the plumber and the tiller were all on site today and they seem to be moving in the right direction! I will show you photos as soon as it looks more presentable.

Now with a clean site I hope it will motivate the workers to be more proud of their work and take a little more care with what they are doing!

“the signs they are a-changing!”

Between driving off to site to organize the sign people and also trying to get drawings and ideas ready for the weekend, I must say (once again) that I am exhausted!

I started off by driving the sign people to site! Then sorting all different sorts of things that need to be addressed before the weekend, and when I noticed what time it was again I had to be off to site to take the sign people again!

As soon as I arrive there was another Bakkie, this one with the contractor! We were both meant to be back in Maseru for a meeting but we eventually made it, and it now seems that we will manage to do something during November.

Thuso Centre

A hectic morning trying to organize some aspects for the LCCU and then a drive up to Butha-Buthe has exhausted me completely.

If all goes according to plan this weekend we will be able have a pretty good idea of what the building will look like. I have pushed for the light fittings to be bought and have managed to go and see the guys that are doing the steel to see if they just push it a bit!

But sometimes you cannot fight a lost battle, let’s see how it goes. I refer to this short example of what sometimes happens when someone that does not know what they are doing makes a decision. Look at the photo and tell me how are you meant to get to the Thuso Centre now that the road has been cut off by a new allocation of land?

Promises

If the construction of the LCCU progressed on promises, it would actually be finished long time ago!

Today as everyday I got more promises… Promise from the electrician that he would come tomorrow. Promise from the plumber that he would finish with the fittings tomorrow, and the eternal promise/hope that we will have thatch on site tomorrow.

But the sad thing is that I know that out of all these promises tomorrow probably none of them will be fulfilled!

Shop shop shop!

I spent most of my day going from hardware store to hardware store!

In the morning I went with Pete (K4L) to buy some parts to try and attach the goals at the blind centre to the floor, but although in theory it would work perfectly, the reality was that the ground was either too soft or too hard!

But during this trip I did manage to have a look at the carpet tiles that I wanted, after a bit of persuasion I managed to take the catalogue (which I promised to return by the end of the day, but forgot) and went to site to check the colours with the walls…

Surprisingly the bets match was a brown that on its own was not that attractive!

Whilst I was there I got a call from Ntate Sello to meet him at Build it, which I did and we then spent a few hours looking for taps and tiles, pans and basin… the Full Monty!

In the end he did not have money to buy everything today so we will resume this task on Monday!

The roof dance.

When I was still in London working for JLA I had a German friend who once told me that back (at his) home when you complete the roof of a building the contractor and the architect go up on the roof and do a roof dance and proclaim poetry!

I wonder if this tradition came from joy or desperation! The kind of despair that makes one so thankful when something is finally over that they literally climb the roof and go ape!

In my case, although I am not German I will surely be on the roof once it is finished, and yes it will be out of despair!

Today once again the contractor has his phone off and I cannot call him! I do not know what he is doing all I know is that I do not have thatch again, and if that was not enough some of the plaster needs to be redone as it has lost it’s grip to the wall.

But my favourite upset of the day has to be the fact that the electrician has decided, for the second day in a row, not to come to work! You will never guess where he went, but I will tell you, it is an ugly, big building with Doric columns on the front porch! Can you guess where that is?

Fittings, thatch, pipes and steel

Morning was spent looking for light fittings so that we can start mounting them on site. Unfortunately when I arrived back to tell the electrician about my findings he was not there.

The roof solution for the canopies works well on paper now, and I just need to be sure that it works… Today it was not possible because there were still other issues to solve specially concerning the ridge. As it is the roof in the different parts of the same block are at the different levels and Ntate Sello was trying to get them to match. But I spoke to the thatcher and I do not think it is worth wasting 2days work just to adjust it 100-200mm.

This said it would be nice if they matched but it could just go the either way and we would still 100mm higher but on the other side. So better just leave it as it is.

So once that was sorted I decided to run a few tests to see if we had the appropriate fall in all our drainage pipes… Water down the pipe and will it come out the side?

Yes! They worked, so I can say that I’m pretty pleased with that.

My last task for today was organizing to buy the necessary steel sections so that the Ntate Letchesa could start manufacturing them... all went well and the frames will actually be slightly cheaper than I had imagined so another good thing.

Up or down…

I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out a solution for the different canopies in the building, both in and inside.

And every time I think I’ve finally found the solution the change in heights between the blocks makes me have to re-think it all over again! So yesterday I did what I should have done first. I measured exactly what my margins and tolerances are.

Now I’ve redesign it and it works on paper. Later I will discover if it also works on site!

Yesterday screeds

A morning visit to site yesterday allowed me to see the screeds in Block B being done. I discovered then that the screeds are not really sand and cement screeds as you would normally expect…

Because I had asked for a 50mm screed as opposed to the traditional 25mm they have decided to mix crushed stone in it, thus effectively transforming it into another thin concrete slab, this one is however finished with a trowel and its final look is that of a normal screed.

Not quite sure what effect this will have on the overall performance of floors but I hope it will not be bad.

Colour test

A fortunate mistake in communication between me and the contractor ended up by creating the solution for the interior door frames.

Having specified a tone of cream that was very similar to the interior walls, I failed to explain that by frames I meant the mouldings and not the metal frames themselves…

So not to waste this paint I asked the foreman to make a test and use it for the internal frames… The result is quite good, or so we believe!

Not again.

After a meeting this morning I had to redesign the kitchen layout for what is now either the 3rd or 4th time… I wish we just all reached an agreement and stuck to it!

Besides that my morning was filled by a visit to the LCCU to show Richard Graham, Comic Relief, Sentebale’s involvement and the progress on this project.

The changes today had not been many but I think he was happy with what he saw. The steps on the courtyard (the other side) should now be finished and that gives the space a new more complete look, if we forget that there is no roof in half of it!

Hat-trick!

Not tries or goals but of things that finally got done on site!

1-0 Today I managed to get TED to come out and we decided how we would proceed with the sewerage pipes! No major issues there, just something that needed to be done!
2-0 The caps for the thatching have been made and they look a lot better than the original one than by the thatcher. These ones were made by a cap specialist!
3-0 The steps have been corrected and although they are not perfect they do look presentable now…

And that’s it for the day, can’t complain too much I guess.

Stepping out!

I must admit that I was too nervous to even think about going to site yesterday, but today as I arrived I noticed the steps were not quite right!

Looking at them they are drifting “slightly” to the courtyard, although I know that they will not fall in, I had to ask them to change them! I hope that by tomorrow, once they have been adjusted it will be a bit less noticeable…

Well it was not that bad from a distance but up close it was quite appalling!

But whilst I waited for Ntate Sello to return so that we could have a final agreement on that matter I decided to help out the women who where sorting and tidying up the thatch. As it happened there were 3 of them carrying it all the way from the sorting ground (at the entrance of our site) to the office room (now converted into a store room) and there were 3 wheelbarrows just sitting there…

With a little organization we manage to set up an assembly line and that little task progressed better and with a lot less effort! If only all our problems where this easy to solve!

It will get better

The roof guy showed up early this morning and the structure has now been changed to what it should have been from the start.

Later in the day I returned to the site to meet Ntate Linakane and I noticed that there was a problem with the screed between the girls’ bedroom and the toilet. If I had been here to control the screeding of the floors they would have been screed at different heights to avoid water going from the bathroom to the room, but this didn’t happen and it seems we will have to cut a gully to avoid this from happening.

Not the end of the world but yet another (small) problem.

The setting out of the steps went well and they should be cast during the weekend. Thatcher moving fast and that is what we need.

Bracing, pipes and thatch

It should not have been hard to repeat what they had done on Block A and do the same on block B but strangely enough they didn’t managed. I met the roof guy today and he then decided that he will come around tomorrow and fix it.

The plumber was there as well and we finally managed to discuss where, how and what to do with pipes. He works fast and that seems to be one chapter where I don’t expect many problems.

A quick chat on the roof with the thatcher was cheering as he says that he feels that they should be able to roof Block B in 10 days… Let’s see how it goes…

And here we go (again)

19 days, 5 capital cities, 7 planes and 27761km later I find myself once again standing in the same old site looking at the same old problems.

During all this time I only managed to have little contact with the site, I phoned a few times but now it’s time to start again.

A lot changed during these nearly 3 weeks that I was offline! I finished my thesis, Camille passed hers, England revived their RWC campaign, Block A now has a full roof and doors and windows are being installed.

But even before I landed I saw once more that I would not be able to keep my promise and complete the building for the first week of November. The shortage of grass is still haunting us, and only slowly have we managed to find enough for our project.

As soon as I landed I went to site to check on the progress… the courtyard is finally looking good, the number of steps will have to be increased and we still don’t have the poles for the canopy, and the changes in Block A are impressive. The roof structure in Block B was braced in a strange way though…

The weather has been miserable and unfortunately that has also set us a back a little…but on the other hand the grass is greener, and the volunteer house for Sentebale is also nearly there!

the end

Jo'burg airport 18:56

Sitting here I realize how hectic these last few days have been... meetings, panels, drawings, site, thatch and all the rest. It feels like the end of a cycle but also the beginning of a whole new and scary one.

Although I will be back in less than 3 weeks to try and (finally) get the LCCU finished, I feel as though I'm leaving...

This morning when I visited the site a truck load of thatch had just arrived and that gives me hope that by the time I'm back we will be able to get on with it. In the mean time I have left the site in the hands of Baba and Sally, who will keep the pressure on the contractor and hopefully send me back some info and photos so that I can keep an eye on it. It will be a kind of virtual master of puppets if it all goes well, with me being able to still manage the site from thousands of Km away... Marvels of the modern world!

This is the last post which will be transcript onto my thesis so it is my last chance to thank everyone. I'd like to thank Camille and my family for the patience and staying behind me even when I had to change my returns, my teacher Luis Urbano (FAUP) for giving me the chance to embark on this task, to A4A, Martin and the Sentebale team (yes Baba, you too are Sentebale) for all the support I needed and all the good times, to Pete and Susie (K4L) for housing me when I was "homeless", all the workers on site, Ntate Linakane and Ntate Sello for the good job so far (let's speed it up now), all my other friends and people which have supported, helped and been there during this experience, I'd also like to thank specially Harper, Sally, Sam and Oscar for making my stay in Lesotho such a great one!

See you all soon!

Frames and session3

Session3 which was meant to be held yesterday had to be rescheduled for today, as my car had to be serviced and the clay was inside…

Yesterday was nevertheless important as we finally managed to meet the contractor and get a go ahead with the plans to organize for the move in. Let’s just hope that he keeps his part of the deal!

Today I visited the site early on and the poles for the roof where all up, and all we need now is to brace them properly! The frames Tau was making around the windows look good, and I can only wait until he does them in the courtyard.

The panels’ session went really well, today we used forks to make the patterns, the result was much better than the others. We now have close to 100 panels and we still have a few more bags of clay…

Tomorrow I will go back to help the children to make more, but I still need to finish to organize for the weeks I will be away.

Session2

Session two went far better than session 1!

Although with fewer kids and less panels produced I have to say that the results were much better. It is easier to supervise a smaller number and the results have then to be better.

Still we are a few short (when I say a few I mean close to 80!), some of yesterdays panels got damaged this morning, or late last evening when it was decided that they couldn’t be kept where they were…

So in the light of this event and fearing further damage and neglect I decided to bring all the panels to the Sentebale office and see if we could salvage any!

Session 1

Not a bad start… 42 done 108 to go!

The children managed to understand quite quickly what they needed to do. In a few hours we managed to produce quite a considerable number of panels. My biggest worry at the moment is how many will survive?

Of the tests I made all my samples survived, but I did it under a quite “controlled environment”. It was only me so I managed to keep the consistency of the clay all the way through. With 20-30 kids this is something that is hard to do… They were so keen to do it that I’m afraid that they might have ended up mixing wet and dry clay and not taking all the air out, or cutting the patterns too deep.

Time will tell and if we are lucky there will be some nice ones that will survive to tell the story. In the end they had fun, as Harper, Sally and Sam could see, and that is what matters.

Panels aside, and the plastering problem solved, today was also important because I managed to finally speak to the contractor. He is up in the mountains and is trying to organize the thatch we still need to finish the building. Monday he will be back and we’ll be able to hopefully set our eyes on the deadline.

Chop, chop, chop…

Fortunately the children were late from school so I had time to pop to site, my morning had been chaotic and spent between buying clay for tomorrow and getting a tyre fixed (just before I was about to leave I noticed it was flat).

This visit to site proved to be one of the most important so far. If I had managed to go early in the morning, I could have avoided it from start but I still managed to stop the mistake anyway.

All the building has been plastered with 2-3 coats (the third one is not exactly as I would have wanted but it performs well nevertheless) but today when only 6m were missing on the exterior wall, they tried to cut a corner. They claimed that the first coat could not be applied because of the sun, but as soon as I explained, it took very little time to convince them that it could not be like this. I would not certify such work, and they understood that they could not get away with it. So chop, chop, chop, let’s take it all off, and do it again properly.

As soon as I can tomorrow I will head out there just to check if it is now up to standard. It would be a pity to spoil such a good job at this moment.

This sorted I got back to the kids and we had a nice introductory lesson, about Litema. As I may have already mentioned, Litema is the traditional form of decoration used in the Basotho households. It originated in the XIX century with the introduction of the plough, and roughly resembles ploughed fields, hence the name. I have decided that it would be nice to introduce this in the new building and today we started a 3 day workshop with which at the end I hope to have produced enough panels to use on the building.

The children enjoyed the session, and some of them picked up the idea quite quick. It was also interesting for me that many of them did not know the meaning of this type of art. Luckily ‘Me Lydia was keen to explain it to them and hopefully from now on they will be more interested in it.

All about the panels

Yesterday not much happened apart from the fact that we managed to get bundles of thatch which we needed, so the thatching has now restarted, however we will need to get a lot more and be a lot more organized if we are ever to complete this building by its new date.

This week was supposed to be all about panels, and in a way it has also been, I had just expected to be able to focus on it, and have ended up having to multiply the minutes and hours of my day to be able to deal with everything.

The first frames and panel have been mounted on site, and they look good! Now we just need to produce another 43! We decided in the end that it will be safer to produce them all the same size as I was afraid that the longer sections might bend and deform. In this way it will also become easier to make and will speed up the process.

Tomorrow I will head off to Bloem to buy the materials we still need for the workshops and then I will try and rush back for the introduction with the kids at the LCCU.

But before I could even start to plan tomorrow’s trip I had to deal with small problem. It had been planned that Ntate Tau would leave our site and go and work on another project (where allegedly he is more needed), I could not let this happened so after a few hours I managed to get someone else to go and keep Tau… If there is any chance of achieving a miracle I need workers that can perform!

Site visits

This weekend was all about showing Mike and Vicky around different projects in Lesotho. We kicked off with a visit to the LCCU.

The visit went well, with Mike (who had visited this site months ago, even before I’d ever seen it) thinking that the change was huge. Unfortunately it was not as good as I hoped but we’ll get there….

After a site visit, with hundreds of photos, we visited the SOS children’s village and the QEII playground.

Then on Sunday we visited the K4L site and had a small brain storming session of what are the different options for that site.

I still managed to get hold of Ntate Linakane on the phone and he told me that the grass is available. Let’s see how much. The Steel guy will meet me tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to seeing if the panels work well on the walls.

1month after

By chance I ended up going to the QEII hospital today, which was actually quite fortunate, as it gave me the chance to check on how it is aging.

The tiles are reacting better than I expected but might have to one day be taken of or replaced, and the paint has worn off a little, nothing serious! The nicest change was that some of the doctors got together and bought a see-saw for the kids.

The LCCU is still trailing and today there were talks of setting a new deadline. I will not say what it is as the last 3 times I didn’t manage to keep to it. But it would be great if this time we could.

Frames and A4A

I went to the lab this afternoon and although they told me that the water is ok for consumption I did not manage to get the full report yet.

But let’s flashback to the beginning of the day! I went to site to meet Ntate Linakane and discuss the next steps in the construction as well as the possibility of completing one section as a sample for the rest, and I ended up helping with the setting out of the frames.

Only when I saw the 12:10 plane take off did I realize that I was late to pick up Vicky and Mike, A4A, who will be here on a 5 day visit. Oops!

I picked them up late, hoped they don’t mind, and during this weekend we will take them around the projects in which they have been involved.

I wish the LCCU was a bit more completed but I hope they will still be impressed with the progress!

Analysis

Yesterday I spent the day trying to tie up some of the (still) loose knots.

One of these is still the water situation. With Playpumps laying bellow the radar we have decided to start moving on to plan B, which in reality was plan A…

When the contractor priced he priced also for the water pump. Later when Playpumps said that they would donate a pump, we were happy and decided to go for that. As it seems that they will not be able to deliver. We have already moved back to sorting out this issue.

However before we do any trench digging or erect the tower, the water needed to be tested for quality. This was the task I started yesterday and completed today.

Yesterday I went to the water Lab, got the appropriate containers and arranged a time to deliver them back, and this morning I went to collect them and have already delivered them.

Fingers crossed now for the water to be suitable for drinking!

(results come back tomorrow)

Something was missing…

Today the mountains, which have been our constant background, were gone! It has been so dry and windy in the last couple of days that the air is full of dust and visibility is now no more than a few kilometres.

Unfortunately this was not the only thing that has gone missing. Yesterday I visited the site to check up on the thatcher’s progress, I cannot say that I was surprised that he wasn’t there. I did how ever strange the fact that our watchman was no where to be seen. To be fair he might have been inside the courtyard, as he claims he was, but I somehow doubt it! So how did 5 bags of cement have disappeared?

It is not the biggest theft ever, and Ntate Sello has already reported it to Linakane, but still it is sad and serious that it has started to happen. I hope the watchman takes his responsibilities a little more seriously from now on!

As for the building, all still the same, moving but moving slowly…

At the end it was just too late…

Yesterday I got held up by all sorts of little bits, concerning the Sentebale guest house, so by the time I did manage to have some time it was already too late to go to site.

I did manage however to meet the welder and with him we discussed the detail for the frames that will be mounted on the courtyard. The QS also returned an amended version of the claim and like that it was a lot easier to check…

On site work was going well, the door frames should now all be up, and all the partition walls are now done. All that we got left now is plastering roofing, and the courtyard.

Where, by the way Tau has already started to lay the foundations for. Speaking to both the contractor and the foreman, it seems that they are keen to at least have half of the building as an example that they can follow once I’m gone.

In the afternoon I went to meet the welder and since he was working at an old site (which I had visited with Martin nearly 6months ago) I decided to have a look around and see how that work had matured. The walls still look new and that really gives me confidence that our building might look the same in 6months time.

You could say that I’m not ambitious, but I am trust me. I have seen many buildings, less than a year old, with cracks that were not your average hairline or shrinkage crack, some had serious structural problems!

And it did move fast!

Amazed was I when today the dome nearly completed…

I had seen it start two days ago, but had not looked at it since, so today when I went to site in the morning and it was 5 courses away from being complete, I was more than surprised!

The structure is self supporting and easy to build, when I asked Christopher (TED) what was the biggest they had ever built he said 4,5m radius. I think that there’s potential here for something else, it just needs to be refined and maybe it could be used a simple and cheap housing solution?

There were also some big changes on the rest of the building. The roof structure (not braced, yet) is up on Block B in all of the small section and in 1/3 of the large one. The thatchers have finally showed up, all four of them, and that also seems to be picking up speed. And Tau and his men have nearly finished the last partition walls. The foundations for the courtyard have also started to be dug.

The QS showed up today and promised to bring me tomorrow, the emended version. He also claims that that is the way that they always do it… Maybe it’s just me, because this is my first time checking this sort of documents but I do believe that the way I asked him to do it is a lot better.

Orange, green, and yellow…

An early morning site visit (I had gone to drop off Liz at the airport, gave me hope that one day I’ll also be on my way to the airport) proved quite useful, as they were setting out the last walls in the kitchen area.

I also caught a glimpse of the thatcher, didn’t quite manage to see how many guys he had with him? Not really a problem, as it will be possible to calculate how many they were…

And in the Afternoon I received claim nr2 from the contractor. I had a quick look at it and have decided that I will not check it, until it is properly done! Who ever did it, just didn’t care anything about what they had doing and have mixed, previously claimed amounts with current amount! A true mess!

Both these events were important, however the biggest achievement of the day, was the decision on the colour scheme. Well not quite the decision (as I still need to go and find exactly the colours that I want), but the “go ahead” from Lydia on the overall colour scheme.

As agreed the scheme will be a simple, traditionally inspired (picture shows one house with a similar scheme), orange/terracotta for the walls, yellow/beige for the frames and light green for the doors and windows. The interior will be painted a light crème and the carpet tiles and vinyl tiles might be of changing colours.

Sills, roof and dome

I have since learnt that not all things move at the desired speed. Now that I know this I am a much more conformed person.

Yesterday I visited site and as there was little of interest to report I chose not to do so and to use that occasion only as comparison point for today. It was with some surprise, and also a bit of joy, that today the roof structure on the front of Block B has started to go up. Also the interior window sills have started to be put in place in Block A, and in the general things are starting to look a bit more finished (there is still miles to go, but the spirits, at least for today, were high).

A new thatcher also showed up today (4 were meant to come), but I must say that their progress was not that noticeable.

The biggest change of the day was the start of the Biogas dome. I met on site the guy that started TED 20 years ago, and he told me that he would be accompanying this build step by step as part of the training of the men that are doing it. This makes me feel more confident both with its quality and speed.

So things are slowly moving in the right direction, and with a little bit of luck we might soon be starting to see it close to its final shape.

Sometimes things come back to haunt you

Not all days can be fun and joy…

My day started off as my night had ended. Quite and adventure I must say, last night Harper had 2 flat tyres and after picking up the passengers (last night), today we drove back to give him his fixed tyre so that he could finally drive back! Nearly 24 later he was back in Maseru and I was off to site…

When I visited the site, expecting the same kind of progress as I had encountered yesterday, I not only did not find it (what was I thinking anyway?) but I also noticed that we are having some problems with the plastering.

On the tops of the walls especially in the round sections, the plastering has cracked. I suspect the reason for this is in part the omission of the wall plate. Not that it avoids cracks, but because if it was there the poles would have been free of plaster and would then be able to slightly shit their position as the wood expands and retracts due to changes in humidity.

Maybe I should have been stronger and not have conceded to that change of detail, but my thoughts at the time were “we need to move on”. I still believe that we do, and I do hope that once the roof is on, and before we paint that maybe we will be able to resolve this minor issue and that it will not come back to haunt me (again).

Best day so far

I would like t start by saying that it was not (entirely) Ntate Linakane’s fault that we did not meet last Tuesday, in fact he did end up coming but someone had told him that I was not here and then forgot to tell me about it…

Today we did meet and at the arranged hour! The meeting was really productive and we have agreed on a lot of issues that were still pending. Next Tuesday we will meet again and try and set a date for completion…

But this was not the only thing that went well today. When I visited the site, it seemed like something really special was happening (or maybe I just learnt to expect less, who knows?). The thatcher finally showed up, and had already done a bit of work.

I spoke to him and he explained to me how he will go on about it. It’s quite interesting! The thatcher works with an assistant, whilst he is placing the bundles on top and sowing them down the helper is tightening the sisal rope to assure that the bundles are nicely into place. They start at the eaves (bottom) and slowly make they’re way up to the ridge (top). Once the metal flashing is fixed they will then comb the grass down to finish it. Whilst this is being done the inside is gradually being coated with clean combed grass. In this way a nice thatch finish will be visible from both sides.

The Structure for the roof on block B is also being put up at good rhythm and I’m really less sceptical about it than I was with block A.

And if this was not enough progress for one day, the last slab has finally been cast! (when I left at 3:30pm they only had about 3m2 to finish, so I assume that by the end of the day it would have been finished!)

If the next few weeks go as today there might still be a little bit of hope for this building after all. (it will not be complete unfortunately, but it will be at a stage when I can comfortably move on and not look back too much over my shoulder)

The other side

Work on Block B looks like it might finally get on its way!

Today when I visited the site hoping to meet Ntate Sello and discuss the courtyard and the “DPM sandwich”, I was very happy to discover that the Roof Structure man was back and had started to erect one of the roundavlos.

It should have started last week, but anyway I’m actually happy that it started now… I already had to rectify a small detail, an maybe if they had done it lat week this week we would be discussing the same problems as we had on Block A. What is past is past and now we should only look ahead and carry on to finish this building ASAP.

Ntate Sello was not there, he had to come to Maseru to buy extra materials, but he told me that I could show Tau how to do the “DPM sandwich”. Upturning the DPM is not a standard practice in Lesotho, and it had been causing great problems so in order to make everyone’s life a little easier and allow us to move forwards, we have devised a solution that avoids the use of mesh! It’s actually quite simple, behind the existing plastic DPM you paint a Bituminous layer (2 coats, one pure paint, the second, at right angles, mixed with ruff sand, then over this mix you sprinkle extra sand, the whole purpose of this recipe is to provide a good key for the plaster), now that you have your Bituminous layer you upturn the plastic DPM and cast your sand and cement screed. After that you can cut the excess plastic DPM because (hopefully) the pressure from the sand/cement screed plus the 50mm overlap of DPMs will be enough to make it continuous. It is not an ideal solution but I believe it will work!

This is supposed to be last month here, to finish the LCCU and go home, but never have I received so many requests for new projects. I cannot start them and follow them through to the end so I’ve sent them all to “London”, for A4A to decide whether it is possible for them to commit to these new proposals.