Trenches dug & steel cages made

This week, we’ve dug by hand all the trenches for the footings (no excavators or JCBs here), and have bent, woven and welded the reinforcing cages ready for the concrete.

We’ve levelled our old squat toilets and latrines, and marked out the new building on the ground.

(You can see our water tank in the distance: we hope to install two more!)

Thank you for 15 years’ faithful service.

At the end of the first week of work, we’d demolished all our old toilets and cleared the site.

We’re crushing the blocks to use as hardcore, and saving everything we can (roofing sheets, windows, doors, frames, etc) for future projects. We’re already using some of the material to build a much needed extra storage shed.

We’ve erected fencing around the construction site to keep the children out!

After the project, we’ll reuse the  corrugated iron and gum poles to build pens and shelters for the goats and hens we plan to keep as part of our agriculture lessons.