Success!

At last I have pictures of the completed project for you.  When I departed on December 21st we had completed the pig barn and a water system to support the project.  With the remainder of the funds that I raised I purchased building supplies and worked with the family to plan how they will construct a storeroom for food and a small residence for a worker.  Finally, with the help of some of Kao La Amani's friends in Ireland, we connected the family with the Arusha branch of Heifer International that agreed to help educate them about efficiently raising the pigs.  I think that this project was a good start in the direction of helping the orphanage become financially sustainable.

I spoke with Pastor Tukai last week and he told me that they have begun work on the store room and workers quarters.  "These Tanzanians are funny" he said in reference to the fact that work was restarting slowly due to the holidays.  I laughed at the irony of this statement, remembering how much time it took pastor, a Tanzanian himself, to go about the day's business.  As the phrase goes: "No Hurry Africa."  He recently moved the pigs into their new home!

A Day in the Life:  Nearly every day when I was working on the project, a group of children would walk by on their way to the river to fetch water.  "GOOOD MOORRRNNING SIR!" they would yell.  Despite the fact that they made their water trips in the afternoons, I loved to smile and wave back.

Nearing completion, the pig barn stretched fifty one meters long.

The view down the front of the completed barn.

We painted the doors, frames and rafters with used motor oil.  The oil repels water and cost us nothing.

The life of a pig: We plastered the walls with a strong ratio of cement to sand because pigs are rough.  The trough in the corner will be used to feed and water the pigs.

This is the view down the barn.  Each room is capable of housing two adult pigs or an entire litter of piglets.  There are twenty seven rooms.

We sloped the floors of each room to a drainpipe to facilitate easy cleaning.  Eventually the pastor plans to plant fruit trees along the edge of the barn so that the waste water from cleaning the stalls will fertilize the plants and help generate more food for the orphanage.

Water is life.  This goes for both humans and pigs.  The second phase of the project was to construct a water tower and install a water tank.  This mason (left) and his day laborer (right) designed and constructed a ten foot tower that would create enough water pressure for water to reach the last stall.

Nondo or "rebar" was used to reinforce the cement slab holding the water tank.

The mason carefully poured concrete over the rebar  to create a solid slab.

Day laborers work hard in Tanzania.  Mixing cement as a mason's assistant earns 5,000 shillings per day (about $3.33/day).  No shoes are necessary for this work.

This five thousand liter water tank will hold the water for cleaning and watering the pigs.  The black, three inch input pipe delivers water into the top of the tank.

Plumbers in Tanzania have just as much of a markup as plumbers in America.  We paid each of these plumbers the same amount for a half day of work that we did a mason for an entire week of work.  Explain that?  The head plumber connects a three quarter inch output pipe from the bottom of the tank to a faucet.

Pendol, one of the farm hands, and I connect the flexible pipe between the water pump at the river and the three inch input pipe.

A third of the way down the barn, a second facet sticks up from the ground.  Cold, abundant water is now available to the entire barn.

Completed:  This is the view of the barn from the river.  (click for larger)

On the opposite side, this is the view of the barn across a dormant corn field.  (click for larger)

This signature plate wouldn't have been possible without a lot of financial support and encouragement.  Thank you to all who contributed.