COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin
Jambo mambo?! (Hi how are you?!)
Life in Tanga these days is moving very smoothly and very fast-we can't believe it's been more than a month since we arrived. This week saw our first actual bout of rain, which on most days began early in the morning and cleared by the time we arrived at work.
After handing over our first house we immediately began work on a new piece of land. We started on Monday, using machetes and an axe to cut down trees, shrubs and anything that covered the new land. By Wednesday morning we were ready to begin digging holes for the foundations, only to find out that we had cleared the wrong land and had to begin again from scratch. Luckily for us, a handful of generous locals offered their hands and muscle to help us get to the same stage. As of now, we have completed tying together the foundations with string and are using the mud we dug up last week to make the walls.
The current group obsession is the vibrant, patterned material sold at the town market, which we have enough of to now start our own shop. A local tailor woman has already done 3 trips to visit us, (expecting our latest orders back this weekend!) making various items for us with our purchased goods. The stack of materials we handed over this week was too heavy for her to carry out.
The pressure is now on for the team to finish the house before we head off to climb Killi and go to Kenya! We have been staying an extra half hour in the morning and almost an extra hour in the afternoons to get the job done in time. We definitely don't want to leave without finishing as this will mean the house remains unused until camps reopens in Jan. This added work has got our heads hitting our pillows before 9:30 most nights!
Xo Sybilla
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