Finishing the home

The struggle to finish the first house is almost over. Rods new design works just like it was designedon paper. The reaction has been fantastic ,now time to ramp up for production. Great job guys.

Not really tasty

The crew building working behind the house Rod and Eric are building makes a batch or meal for lunch every day it has no taste but fills the tummy. The other picture is Rod caught in a downpour with only a sheet of plywood for protection,didn't work real well.

Solwezi road crew

They finally started working on the roads,looks like they might need to do a little more training before they turn them lose with the equipment. Once it quits raining it turns to dust. The guys come in covered with fine red dust. At times it looks like the town is on fire. Rod says at night they need to keep the wipers on to keep the dust of so that they can see.

Walls are going up

Rod and Eric and the crew are setting panels. Working just as planned,Eric came up with a hoist system that is working great . Panels for the entire house could be put up in a day if they didn't need to be open for electical inspection.

Floor is poured

I had problems getting these pictures to the blog. Rod and Eric and the guys pouring the slab. I looks to me that not only do you have a homemade bullfloat that you allso have a home made rake which means that the only tool you bought was the darby and that was made for stucco and not concrete. Great job guys and gals

It's Africa

Rod and Eric were ready to pour the first slab. When they went out to start the truck, there was no fuel. Someone that climbed over the fence ,cut the fuel line and stolen the fuel. Ttying to do anything in Africa at times seems to be like running a race with your feet incased in buckets of concrete.

Moving to job site

A ramp needed to be built to get the posts loaded on the truck for tansport to the jobsite . The house is close to coming together.

Good water

Rod and the gang with new water filters from monolithic dome institute. Finally water that is drinkable in Solwezi. This is a  nifty design that monolithic sells put water in the top pail and it filters into the lower pail overnight. The bottled water in Zambia is not very tasty and is very spendy . I wish we would have had this while I was there.   If it rained over night the Zambian's that worked for us would gather all the rain water that had collected in the tarps, it's hard to tell what they had to drink at home. Be thankful if you can go to your tap and drink the water with out getting sick.

Panels

Rod with the panels. Rod came up with a block and tackle system to raise the walls safely and easily . Cement mixer broke. Nothing is easy in Africa. Some shots around the site.

Update

Rod and Eric have been busy will try and do a sbort update . Water is always an issue in Solwezi . The crew dug in a water line about a block long from a well so they now have a reliable supply of water,and much better than the muddy water that was delievec from the creek. Eric also came up with a modified ice tong tool so they are now able to carry the line posts safely and with out damaging the posts.

Last day

This is a shot leaving Solwezi on my last day. Rod and Eric have made great progress since I left. I have been trying to get caught up on work  and family since I got back. Will post more later and then turn the blog over to Rod.

Home again

Man was it good to see the family again. Four in the morning ,but couldn't sleep,body said it's time to go to work. Will post again later.

Still on a jet plane

This is Heathrow airport in london.I'm in Dallas waiting for the flight to Rapid can't wait.I'm wiped out now ,is going to take a few days to recover.

I'm on a jet plane

Arrived in Lusaka saftly. Fly out tomarrow @ 9:10 LeeRays Africa adventure is coming to a close. Hopfully Rod will have time to write on the blog from time to time to keep everyone informed.
  This is the Solwezi airport.

Health center

This is the health center. It is across the road from the proprosed orphanage. They had a thatch hut at on time,but it blew away. When they can get a doctor to come in now they put a mattress under the tree for their clinic. It was a great day and a heartbreaking day. There is so much to be done here.

Jito childrens institution

Meet a wonderful lady today Isabel Kayumba who has a heart for helping orphans and young unwed mothers. This is a goup of pictures that we took at here place the house in the background is about 14'x14' and divided into two rooms. Right now she has a caretaker and one young unmarried girl who has a little girl staying here,she is the girl to my right. She looked to be somewhere around 14 or 15 ,she asked us if we would take her to the US. The ophans are staying with different families now but it is a strain for the to feed them. Isabel's goal is to start an orphanage and home for unwed mothers. The picture with Rod and the yellow bucket is their borehole or well,the bucket is used to draw the water it is then boiled and clorinated to make it safe to drink. The thached hut is like most Africans kitchens. The picture of Rod with the little boy was funny were we the first white people that he had ever seen and he didn't know what to think of us.
  Jito is a Kaonde name which means aplace of safety or hiding place.

World out side the gates

I asked the guards at the gate to our lodge if I could take their pictures , they were happy to have someone to talk to for a while. This is looking down the road to get to the lodge. Second picture is of the second guard ,he wanted his picture taken also. They were wondering what we were doing here,they are paid very little and are always trying to find a better paying job. Today is lockout day 11,tomarrow we should know what is going on.

More kids and toys

It's highly likely these kids have never seem a toy from the store. Shots taken from handing out toys it's amazing how many people appeared out of the forest after we handed out the first toys.