Month: June 2018

I wish to stop and acknowledge the amazing job Emmanuel Boaz is doing to make the dream of a school a reality!

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In life, there are people who try their best to make the most of what they are given, and at our school, Emanuel Boaz is one of those people. He can account for the money he had been given, and he tries his level best to make the money go as far as it can. For example, the hunt for pebbles! He could have stopped at the first quarry and paid $150 dollars extra and been done with his pebble quest. But NO…$150 to him is 2 months of pay. So because we need many pebbles right now for construction, he had an idea to see if the Maasai women might have pebbles for him and he had success! The Maasai pebbles will cost $150 less than buying from the main quarry, and he is employing the women who painstakingly chip the hard rocks to the correct size. He bought 2 small truck loads from them, and he put in an order for more that they will have ready in 2 weeks for him.

I could not be any more pleased with Emmanuel. He thinks things through and is very determined to find the best outcome. Sometimes he will say to me, “mum, there is no way out.” That means he has to pay the price asked, but he is always thinking of how he can find a better or different way to a situation or any obstacle he might encounter. He is amazing!

Oh, and the beans from the farm fields were harvested and it was GOOD harvest! That is good news for our school lunches!

The hunt for large “pebbles” or aggregate for the cement.

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Many construction items for the school, Emmanuel will say to me, “mum, there is no way out.” He means that the price is what it is, and he can not do anything about it. But when it comes to large “pebbles” or aggregate, he keeps trying to find the best price. The community center has needed more pebbles than the other buildings due to the extra columns in the foundation wall. He has been “hunting” for the best price for these large pebbles. He stopped at this large quarry where a machine makes the rocks into small rocks. but the price this year is more due to the government requiring more of these rocks for there road construction. Basic supply and demand.  So Emmanuel had an idea the other day to see if the Maasi were selling any large pebbles. And YES..they did have some small piles of pebbles. The Maasi chip away at the rock outcrops and then continue to chip the pebbles to the size needed for sale. Emmanuel bought 2 small truck loads of their pebbles. And he put in an order for 2 more small truck loads. The women promised to have them to him in 2 weeks! The women are the ones who chip the pebbles to the correct size!
This was Emmanuel’s first stop on his quest for pebbles! Too expensive here.
Quarry stop number two. Again, too expensive.
Stop number 3. The rocks here are owned by the people who live on this “street.” The rocks in the field are chipped away at, and then the women finish the chipping.

Two small trucks of large pebbles from the Maasi are delivered. He saved the school money by “hunting” for the best price on large pebbles. I appreciate all his hard work trying to make our dollars stretch as far as it can!

 

More soil is needed before the layer of pebbles is added.

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Working on the lintel, which is the structural horizontal framework that spans the space or opening between the vertical supports.
Small volcanic basalt is added to the next layer.
More meticulous book keeping is given to me by Emmanuel. The below video shows that the engineer dug around the building for soil to add to rooms, but informed Emmanuel that he best purchase dirt to fill in the area in the foundation before the pebbles are added.

More cement and pebbles. The pillars will be filled with very strong concrete.

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Bags of stronger cement are purchased for the school building pillars.
I see now what Emmanuel talks about. These expensive “pebbles” are hard pieces of rock unlike the smaller less expensive “pebbles” that are various sizes of volcanic rock, which are much more plentiful. One truck load of the large pebbles cost 1,000,000 tsh, or about $500 usd.
These volcanic smaller pebbles are only 250,000 tsh per truck or  about $125 per truck.

Construction continues with more pebbles, more hard bricks and wood for setting the pillars

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