Just a little “under the weather”

This may be the wettest February in the living memory of Rwanda, and our construction team found themselves cold, wet, and a little behind schedule. Usually, January and February are dry months and prove good for building foundations and pouring floor slabs. We expect the rains to come in at the end of March and throughout April, and we plan our building process accordingly. So when the downfall came this February we were really taken by surprise.

Sanitation Block

Foundations were completed, waste lines installed, floor slab poured and first course of bricks were laid this month. We had a tremendous efforts carried out by Musonera and Bosco who completed an amazing 24-hours shift after the skies opened up and down poured on the freshly poured floor slab. The two of them Construction Supervisor David Ngirimana (left) smiles at the irony of one of our truckloads of bricks for the sanitation facility bogged down in the mud during the “dry” season. ! worked hard throughout the night taking turns in the damp cold then seeking refuge in the meeting room building for a few winks of sleep and some hot chai. 6:15 am: Musonera completes the extraordinary 24-hour shift having tag-teamed with Bosco to finish the floor slab. ! Sanitation Block, continued Throughout the month of March the walls will be pushed up, ring beam poured and hopefully the roof of the sanitation block completed. Also we are working to complete the water storage and dig the main water lines to the facility.

Library Building

Despite the rain, mud and wheelbarrows sloshing through it all, the foundations for the library were completed this month. All told, 60 bags of cement, 15 loads of large rough rock, 4 loads of course red sand, 4 loads of fine sand, and approximately 1,680 man hours of labour resulted in the foundation for the library’s main hall and 3 study rooms being completed. Similar to our other The crew works on laying out the first course of bricks for the sanitation block, watch out for the puddles. original stable soil prior to laying down the foundational wall for the library.

We have bricks!

This month saw the delivery of 30,000 locally fired red bricks that will go towards the library and the Sanitation Block. Unlike previous times, bricks were available in the timeframe that was promised as subsequent times we’ve had to wait anywhere from 1 – 2 months.

Landscaping

This month’s landscaping activity saw us complete two sections of the retaining wall to stop erosion and improve the aesthetics of the site. The first retaining wall was built up by the staff-housing unit located on campus and the other was built by the parking lot.

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