Prior to departing for Busoke, we dropped into Edwin's home and met Doreen and baby Rebecca. Edwiin also took the opportunity to share his vision for Barnabas Project and his current priorities.
The 50 minute road trip to Busoke travels through the township of Gayaza (on the way to Kyampisi) and includes some spectacular scenery - lush green pastures, rolling hills and a number of fruit and vegetable markets.
On arrival in Busoke we inspected the four classrooms of Barnabas Christian School (P1, P2, P3 and P4). The temporary classrooms are similar to those at Kyampisi except that they have an open and light feel, have cement floors and are only 12 months old. The school also includes an office for the Head teacher and a staff room for his teaching team. The area directly outside these rooms has been stripped of grass and is fenced as the dirt access road to this isolated community runs beside the school.
Interestingly, the small number of traditional homes adjacent to the school are a 15-20 minute drive off the main road (unlike Kyampisi which is only about 7-8 minutes from the main road).
Following our introduction to each class (and a short conversation with each teacher, three of whom are men) Edwin gave us a tour of the current project before we commenced the building of the teachers quarters.
On very close inspection from Edwin it was decided that we weren't able to commence the brickwork as previously planned (as the foundations needed to be re-designed). By 're-design' I mean remove the recently constructed but defective internal walls and re-align the internal trenches. According to Edwin, the initial foundations weren't up to his required standard. New contractors were employed and the process commenced afresh - courtesy of our money and our assistance.
We were also a part of a planning meeting to discuss the expansion of the current pig pens and the construction of a new stream of income - a 500 head chicken farm.
Both Dale and I gave Edwin 670,000 schillings today to purchase the required materials for the building of the teachers quarters. I'll give Edwin some more money on Wednesday as his estimates are a little on the low side.
Dale and I decided to practise our footy passing during the afternoon - albeit with bricks - but it certainly provided lots of entertainment for everyone, including us. We were asked to move a pile of bricks from A to B and felt it was the best way to do so.
As the day progressed we started to wonder if we were actually helping the local builders or only acting as comic relief. Our tag-team digging wasn't quite as efficient as the locals.
We left Busoke at 5pm and returned to Edwin and Doreen's home for 'lunch', although we called it dinner as it was close to 6.30pm and we were VERY hungry. Doreen served Irish potatoes and we added a pineapple that we'd picked up on our way home.
Edwin kindly drove us back to St Paul's House for showers and an early night. On our arrival home we were met with quietness as team members had gone our for the night.
Tuesday saw Edwin meet us at St Paul's House and drive us back to Busoke. We dropped into a hardware store en route to pick up a plastic jerry can - which we cut in half to use at the building site. We also stopped at a street side nursery to pick up two Ugandan natives to plant at the Barnabas Christian School.
We decided to give Edwin three iPads and 15 Redlands College student hats this morning - he was very moved by this and was very appreciative of our generosity.
On our arrival at Busoke we were met by the children of Barnabas Christian School. We enjoyed a number of brief conversations with them - I was particularly interested in learning some of their names. We also enjoyed meeting with the teachers again - who are looking forward to our PD session tomorrow.
As the temperature was rising, we thought it wise to start our building work.
Our first task today was to plant the two native trees on the eastern side of the new teachers quarters. Edwin certainly has a vision for what he's doing and he's very strategic in planning towards this.
After planting the trees, we commenced down at the pig pen as we were given the responsibility of re-cementing the floor of one of the pens. It seems the piglets entertained themselves the previous night digging a very large hole into the floor of their pen.
The re-cementing process began by collecting unwanted rocks of dried cement from the stockpiles around the foundation site, wheelbarrowing them down to the pig pen, placing them on the current slab and hammering them into very small pieces. The process also involved spraying water on the slab and sprinkling some cement powder on the wet slab to help bind the new surface to the old. We then made concrete - using water and sand collected from the local area) and applied it to the top of the drying slab. One of the local builders then levelled it all off and the job was complete.
Following this job (which took a good part of the day) we returned to the foundations of the teachers quarters. We were again digging trenches and, after Edward had used a plum line to position the respective corners of the structure, we started to lay bricks.
I really enjoy laying bricks, especially when working closely with someone who builds the bed of mortar on which I lay them.
At about 6pm we decided to call it a day. We drove back to Edwin's home for dinner - rice, beans, pasta, carrots and pineapple, which we again picked up on our drive home.
After dinner we had planned to drop into a local printing shop to photocopy 20 copies of the Teacher Marix that Dale and I are using tomorrow in our Teacher PD at Barnabas Christian School. Unfortunately, as the power was 'off' AGAIN we returned to St John's House for showers and bed.
Both Dale and I are feeling a little sore tonight, but due to what we've achieved, we also feel very satisfied.
May God bless the community of Barnabas Christian School.
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