Brickwork at Kyampisi School

Last week saw us commence the brickwork for the new Kysmpisi International Christian School.

The hand-made clay bricks were all fired in the local area (in stockpiles where they are baked) and transported to the building site. They are quite small, probably a third of the size of the hand-made cement bricks made by the Watoto method.

I understand we'll be rendering the clay bricks to seal them on both the inside and outside.

While laying bricks from the ground is easy, it's when we get to a height that requires scaffolding that the equation becomes a little more difficult - and I was always a little cautious about the Watoto scaffolding. At Kyampisi the locals use tree trunks, tree branches and ropes to build their scaffolding. While it's probably safer than it looks, I'm very confident that it wouldn't pass Australian WH&S requirements - but I guess we're not working in Australia are we?

The local 'brickies' set the corners and areas beside the windows and then we are asked to lay the rest - under the watchful eye of the supervisor who sets up the string line for each course of bricks.

It seems like we'll be finished in about 2 weeks - everything up to the level of the elevated slab and main supporting pillars. It would have been great to see this second slab added while we are here, but KCM are a little short of money for this part of the building process - about $5,500 AUD to be precise. I'm confident that God will provide at just the right time.