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Final preparations before the work begins.

This picture was taken the day before work commenced at the Hope Centre site. Here you will see Pastor Leonard, in the middle, and his good friend Jean, to the right, and I discussing the final details for how the work will progress.







Already we have a full time supervisor that we can trust and a full time interpretor that will be on site whilst we work.

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Today we started working on site

We were immediately crowded out by about a hundred kids that were playing so we had the boys entertain them with a foot ball so that we could begin the work. Here you will see us surveying the land as all the levels will be important due to the regular flooding that occurs in the area.

Pastor Leonard and his good friend, acting as interpretor for the day, along with my son Sam assisted in getting all the ground levels and known flood levels.

Spot the Ball




Here is Matthew really enjoying the attention.

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The building work starts with a security fence.

The night before work began it rained non stop until the sun came up. Needless to say the site was a mess. Everything disgusting that you can imagine is in the ground. Cows regularly use the area.

Security on the site is very important. Not just for the tools, materials and workers but also for the safety of the local children that use the ground to play on. Half of the site will be for the children's homes and the other half will be devolved later to provide a vocational school and aids clinic. Just over a quarter of the site is being fences of to begin with and that is what you are seeing here.

We have about four local workers, a site supervisor, three armed police and a night watchman for now but once our container arrives on site we will have three armed police men guarding at night also.

The first picture shows Pastor Leonard helping to clear some water from the area that the first fence post will be positioned. Little did he know that he would also be expected to get his hands dirty.

One of the workmen digs the hole as deep as his arm will go.

Next the night watchmans tent has to be constructed. All of this was achieved in the first day. Timber frame design is not quite as advanced as in the uk.

On the second day materials that we ordered were delivered within about three hours - Special Delivery.

Several of the children have these fancy little toys that have obviously been made for them by a loving parent, relative or friend. They derive great pleasure in dragging them around the muddy site. This one is some kind of cardboard box with moving wheels made from bottle tops.

And here are another toys.

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The first week of work is complete.

We started work on Monday surveying the land and then on Tuesday organising the materials and labour. On Wednesday we started with our workmen. 5 tradesmen, 1 watchman and 1 interpretor. We also had 3 armed policemen present to keep order. The policemen should also be present both day and night once the 40' container arrives from the UK.

We agreed that work would be 5 days per week so that we and our workmen can spend time with our families. The great thing is that all the workmen live in the community. This has two main advantages. We want to be able to improve the lives of the community and also the workmen know that the safety of the site is important as it represents their livelihood.

Friday was pay day which was a very humbling experience as I worked side by side with these men. They worked really hard for three days in the blistering sun and heat getting really dirty. Each of the tradesmen received the equivalent of £4. To them this is a good wage for three days and will allow them to purchase the essentials.

The mat sheets, that you can see being used for the fence, are 3m long by 2m high. Initially we have had them make 66 of these which was ordered and payed for before we left the UK. Each sheet must take a fair bit of time to make as they are hand woven. Each sheet cost £2.60 to make.

The temporary fence will help to keep the site safe. We hope to replace this with proper walls at the end of the project