Sunday 24 June 2012

Builders Update

We arrived in Malawi and hit the road running, soon after arriving on Wednesday afternoon we went to John Steendam’s garage to check out and sort all our equipment from the container and then to the Synod workshop to catch up with the carpenters.
Chigodi Ceiling

On Thursday morning it was off to Chigodi to replace the ceiling in the rooms where our women would be staying. The existing ceiling was made of Canite and was water stained and falling down. It was soon obvious that we would have to fix the roof as well as all the Iron was coming off the batons and thus the cause of the water stains. We used plywood to redo the ceilings in the 2 rooms one rectangular and the other round. The round room was a challenge but we got there in the end. Doug also took the opportunity to install a Network printer, that had been sent in the container, in the Office. We spent Thursday Friday and Saturday at Chigodi and were happy with the result.

Our first full week began on Monday with a car problem, and as usual we were delayed getting to the work place, but only by a few hours this time. We accept this now as it is part of life in Malawi. When we were picked up, Alfred, one of the Synod carpenters, had blankets with him and we asked him would we need blankets as well. He said, Oh yes! We set off wondering what was in store for us. A few kms later we were on a dirt track going through areas of very basic village life and we had visions of sleeping on the floor with no blankets. After 40kms of bushbashing we arrived at Nkula, the site of Malawi’s first hydro power station. We found the worksite which is the congregation of Mfungo which means smell in Chichewa, as when the congregation first met they gathered under the Mfungo tree. The tree emits an odour thus the name. 
 
The church is similar to the other churches we have roofed in that it is in the shape of a cross. With so much help from the locals and all the tools from the container, we have managed to get all the trusses made and in place and we are hoping to level the batons and lay the iron in the next few days and be finished by Wednesday before we start the next church which is a smaller building and just a straight roof line with no wings. 
 
Mufungo Roof
We thank God constantly for the people who sent tools in the container as it makes our job so much easier. We are also still using the dropsaw, generator and nail gun that Reservoir donated in 2010. The locals are amazed with the tools that we have for all the various tasks, which now includes a hammer drill to go through the brick work as they tie the trusses down with wire here.

The people have been so kind to us. We were so relieved to arrive at our accomodation with us having a single bed each in a house and lovely Christian people caring for us. Our meals have been great including a welcome dinner on Monday night which was a very formal affair similar to what the team received when we arrived in Malawi. Our hosts are Edwin and Carol and they have 2 children Robert 12 and Favoured (girl about 3yrs). On Wednesday night we were privileged to go to their bible study meeting which was conducted in Chichewa in a private home. You can just see their faith shining through in their worship. We then were invited to another family’s home for tea where we had Chambo (the local fish from Lake Malawi) and a enjoyable social evening. 
 
Already we have 2 dinner invitations for next week. The people are so loving and friendly. The men work together very well and have a lot of fun and we look forward to next week.. They are so thankful for the the Austraians who have donated (Scots Church Melbourne) the money to allow them to roof their Church
Edwin our host works at the Power Station and took us for a tour after work one day and also took us looking for crocs and Hippos down at his veggie garden on the river bank but we didn’t see any. 


Doug & Steve 

1 comment:

  1. So why were you given blankets? Were they for use on your beds?
    I wonder if you will get to see crocs and hippos.
    Great to hear about the wonderful work you are doing.
    Blessings. Evelyn

    ReplyDelete

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