KISII REPORT #13

Count 'em (5,500)

It has been step-by-step. The first step was buying the bricks. Joel found a deal on 5,500 bricks that would be needed to build a safe and healthy place for the orphans to sleep.

Well… that was not actually the first step. The first step was deciding what type of building we would make. Making an adobe-type building would be very cheap, but in that wet climate, these buildings need constant upkeep, and in the end, they do not last long. I learned this in the last wet season.

But a building with a concrete floor, brick walls, and tin roof is very expensive—almost ten times as much as a mud building. Nevertheless, next to food and clothing, a good place for the children to sleep in the most important need. The conditions that they have at this present time create a lot of illness, especially during the rainy season. Because of all these considerations, a concrete and brick building this is the type that we have begun to undertake.

I have decided to include the materials list below, which also includes some labor costs. Much of the labor will be done by the church people, but there is some that they do not have the skills needed to do.

Ballast for the concrete

As you look at the materials below, you will notice that they have terms that we do not use here. The “ballast concrete” for example, is not concrete. It is the course material for the gravel/sand mix. “Rintals” are what we call rebar.

I have also had some well-meaning people in the US give me advice in cost reduction, for instance, using cement block instead of bricks. There are two things that I will say in response to this:

1: These people who have given me advice may be wonderful builders here in the US, but none of them that have talked to me have any experience at all in building in an overseas third-world country. They do not understand that you cannot simply transpose what is best here with what is best in these countries. I am not a builder by trade, but I have built or been involved with construction in several foreign countries, including India, Mexico, Venezuela and Guatemala. I have seen enough that I understand that one needs to listen to the locals.

2. Also, I still maintain a high level of trust with Pastor Joel and the leadership of the Log Church of Kisii. I saw how they deliberated over the smallest of purchasing decisions where the price difference was only two or three dollars. Joel is saving all of the receipts for the materials and everything that he has purchased, and I am planning another trip there sometime this winter. Perhaps there are some things that we could do to save costs, and sometimes a person from the outside is able to see these things, at least this has been my experience.

The list is below. “KSHS” stands for Kenya Shillings, the currency of the country. Since one Shilling is worth about a penny US, you can make a quick currency conversion by simply moving the decimal point two places to the left. Example: KSHS 80,000 = about $800. It is actually a little less than that but it is close. If you are a stickler for detail, you can find currency converters online. 

1.      Ballast concrete 5 Lorries@Kshs. 16,000 per lorry                              KSHS   80,000

2.      Sandys 8 lorries@Kshs 18,000                                                             KSHS   324,000

3.      380 Bags of cement@950 per bag                                                        KSHS   361,000

4.      5,500 bricks@Kshs. 15                                                                         KSHS   82,500

5.      Wall pass 1, roll@Kshs. 4,000                                                             KSHS   4,000

6.      16, Y 12 RINTALS@850                                                                    KSHS   13,600

7.      12, y 8 rintals@ Kshs. 500                                                                   KSHS   6,000

8.      Binding wire 1 roll@Kshs.3,500                                                          KSHS   3,500

9.      Ordinary nails 1 sack                                                                           KSHS   6,000

10.  Roofing nails@ Kshs. 6,000                                                                KSHS   6,000

11.  200, 14 ft pieces of timber 4 by 2@ kshs. 24 per ft                            KSHS    67,200

12.  180, 14 ft pieces of timber 3 by 2@ kshs. 2 per ft                              KSHS   55,440

13.  9 WINDOW STEEL@Kshs. 5,500 per steel                                        KSHS   49,500

14.  3 door@Kshs 12,000                                                                           KSHS. 36,000

15.  Iron sheet 180@1250                                                                          KSHS. 17,100

16.  Labour work cost                                                                                 KSHS. 175,000

17.  Transport cost                                                                                     KSHS. 152,000

     TOTAL KSHS.1, 438,840 

I will plan on writing more about this in the weeks to come as we think that we now have enough that we can actually begin to build. Because of some very nice gifts by people from some unexpected places, we have enough materials to begin. We do not have everything, in fact we still lack about $10,000. But we have the “ballast,” we have the “sandys” we have the bricks, and now we think we will have enough for the cement.

Oh, there is one more thing. Even in Kenya they have building codes, especially when building for children. When a government inspector visited the site where we are to put the building, he determined that it was not suitable to put the concrete directly on the ground. He told Joel that he needed first to apply a base of “marrum” (Neither did I know what this was and neither did Mr. Google, unless it is a village in the Netherlands).



Marrum (not the town)

But Joel sent me a picture, and I immediately recognized the type of material that he was talking about. I have seen it on building sites all over the world. It provides a hard and impermeable base on which to put the concrete so that the floor does not crack.

 

We have not forgotten that most of the kids cannot now attend school because of the high cost, but we consider this an even more important need.

That’s enough for now. More next week.

 

"Praise the Lord!"

"Amen"

"Praise the Living Lord!"

"Amen"