My First Week In Zambia

I have spent the last 6 days working at Kachele farm as part of the building/maintenance team here and we've been working on a new building project. We have been converting three old brick chicken sheds into accomodation for future volunteers. There will be an apartment for a couple with a small bathroom and kitchen in one building, then the second two buildings will have 2 single rooms in each, all with a small en suite shower room.

The first two chicken shacks were being damaged by a huge tree that had sent roots under the foundations and were lifting the walls and causing cracks. So our first two days were spent hacking at the roots with an axe and digging trenches that we would later fill with concrete to protect the new buildings from damage in future. This was back breaking work and the axe gave me blisters all over my hands, but it was worth it to protect the houses. Then Wednesday was spent cutting the walls down to a level that we could build on again, we used a grinder to cut the windows out and then made a start on the interior walls.

On Thursday I took a break from building and joined a team who were going out into one of the communities we work in. It was my first Zambian community visit and it was brilliant seeing a community so different to the ones I’ve seen in South Africa yet still using the same system and goals that make up the Hands at Work Model. I went with Russell and Dianne to visit a home, the family that lived there were Mother, Father and 4 year old son. Both of the parents were paraplegics. They had one wheelchair and a hand-pedal three wheeler; it was hard seeing people living like that whereas if they were in the UK they would have all the support and healthcare they needed.

Friday and Saturday were spent building again, I had my first try at brick laying and the houses really started to look like rooms rather than a building site. We mixed bags and bags of mortar and concrete by hand (not fancy mixing machines) and filled in the trenches we dug earlier, fitted the first doorframe and some other bits and bobs that needed clearing or moving or recycling. So after 2 months of doing very little manual labour I’ve been back at it and I’m loving the feeling of exhaustion after a days work.

The internet here isn’t strong enough to upload photographs but I will keep trying. The Video Blogs won’t have a chance uploading so there will be very little visual stuff on my blog until I’m living somewhere with a better connection. But I’m not moaning! I’m just glad I can email home!