Random news and Brown Volcano Story

Volunteers

We wouldn't be where we are at without the guys that have volunteered. I can't afford to pay them a real wage, I can only give them about enough to cover their lunch, so it's not like they are employees that I can make demands of. In the morning when I pick them up, sometimes they are 10 minutes late. Back when we lived at Mosamane, they would sometimes miss the ride that I arranged for them (to save me both time and diesel). Then I would have to drive in to get them. That was frustrating.

I bring hot water and have coffee in the little storeroom, so after we get to the house site, there is a before work coffee break. I can usually water the garden during that time! I have to remind myself, that without them, I'd be working at a snail's pace. Something else I'm learning is that relationships are the most important thing. Yelling at them to get started would only bring an oppressive atmosphere. I know a good bit of it is cultural. Work expectations here are different from the US. When summer comes, I'd like to start around 7:30. Going to propose to the guys if we do, we'll stop earlier. I just don't know what time I'd actually pick them up.

The Mine

Since we are basically out of crusher dust, most of our work this week has been in the mine digging out soil and clay. It's not fun work, but it has to be done. Friday a cold front arrived, it was windy and cold, so we only worked till lunch. We do have lots of supplies set up, both soil and clay, so once we get crusher dust, we'll be able to mix cob for 10 days at least, maybe more.

Two dirt piles to the left,
and clay pit and clay pile to the right.

Nice dirt pile on left, clay on the right.

Lumber

We are also at the point of the windows on many walls, so been waiting to get lumber. I found a mill on top of the mountain at Ficksburg a while ago, and the guy was suppose to call me, but never did. I called him again this week, and asked about his reject pieces (with bark on one side, or knots, whatever). This is fine for us because the wood is going to be covered by cob, it just needs to be solid to attach the windows when we are near finished. The good news is that for one ton of rejects, it only cost R100/$10. I'd love to get several tons, it's transporting them to de la Harpe that is a little challenging.

Other work

Plugged drain, with peep-hole.
You can see the outer ring that broke off to the left.

We lived in 3 places here so far, and had toilet issues in 2 of them. One of the toilets in our current place backed up, so on my Friday afternoon off, I was on toilet duty. Toilets here, most of the time, are placed against an outside wall and the pipe comes straight out, and where it turns downward, there is a peep-hole you can open. However, the pipes had been painted over when the house was painted, so it was a struggle getting them open. Actually broke one of them getting it off. The one was clear, the other was blocked up to the point of the opening. I wasn't able to buy a plunger, but was able to get a bottle of “Free-Flow.” I was going to pour this straight into the pipe where I could see the blockage. I looked at the bottle again, 98% sulphuric acid! Fortunately I had some thick rubber gloves. Put them on, and poured just a little bit. Combining sulphuric acid and sewage results in a bubbling, steaming, brown volcano!! Unfortunately, it didn't loosen things up completely. This morning (the next day), the level has dropped another 8 inches or so, but still there. Going to check at the co-op if they have another bottle in the back, as the one I got was the last one the shelf. Corné and I both said that once in our house, we won't have any toilet leaking/blocking up issues. Another advantage of compost toilets-simple and effective!

Crusher Dust Blues

I knew our gravel was getting low, and fortunately we had money set aside from our last provision.  I called this morning to order it, but the guy told me he was having trouble getting crusher dust, and it would be a week or two!  A bit of a setback, but there's still work we can do.  On the other hand, good news yesterday was that I called the man with the lumber mill on the mountain in Ficksburg.  He said I can come next week and get a ton for R100 ($10)!!  With that wood, I'll be able to make window frames and door frames, so that will be the work for next week.

The last of the crusher dust dust,
before we mixed today.

Yesterday we were all a bit slow.  Don't know why!  Most of the time I feel like we are making good progress on the house, but the last two days, I just wish it was all done!  Was thinking that a year from now, my life will be different!  I still might be building-either for the school or for the guys, but at least be living in our house.  

Electricity
We have pre-paid electricity, which is nice in a way, no surprise large bills!  However, it is turning out much more expensive than we thought.  Almost spending as much on electricity as our rent! (But we aren't paying market rate.)  Most of it is the geyser, which makes no sense why more people haven't gone solar.  I figure we payed R600 for hot water this month.  A solar water heater is R10k.  Seems like it would pay for itself in just a few years.  Another reason we are going off the grid!

Stem wall all covered up!

Last weekend, since provision came in and we needed a little break, went to Bethlehem and visited with the van der Wals. Always a very blessed time to be with them. Got to see their photos from their trip to Ireland, and had many Kingdom discussions that were encouraging to all (even some mammoth stories)!

The angels are helping us, because with interuptions, still lots of cob done! Monday as I was going to get Corné from Tshepo, my father-in-called saying he was stuck in Ficksburg. He took his bakkie (truck) in, and it wouldn't be finished in time for him to drive home. So I quickly got Corné, dropped her off at home, drove to Ficksburg, picked him up and grabbed some groceries. Could actually buy ice cream since our freezer is now in our house, and not 1km away! That was a first time in many months. The next day I was suppose to drive him to pick it up, so stopped work early, drove to Kranskop to get him, and he just got off the phone and it wouldn't be ready till the next day! So Wednesday stopped early again, took him in, got a few errands done.

Western kitchen wall.

However, with all the short days, still rose the kitchen wall high as I want to go right now. About to the level where the dining window will sit, so stopping for the moment.

Wednesday we started on the last corner of the house with no cob- the lounge and bathroom walls. The first layer is always a bit tricky as the cob needs to overhang the outer part of the stem wall about an inch/2 cm. That way when rain flows down the wall, it will drip off the overhang, and not get stuck where the cob meets the stone. If it did, the cob could get wetter and wetter, and possibly fail. However, making mud stick out sideways isn't easy! The bathroom stem wall is a bit low, so it actually was easy to put up sticks of firewood to support the cob till it firms up (a couple hours).

Support first layer of cob.

Mixing extra cob for Monday.

A view we don't normally see, as it is outside the fence.
Looking here at the bathroom and lounge walls.

Bathroom wall, with kitchen in background.

Thursday we got a good rhythm, got two layers done. Friday, our 5 man day, I was a little bummed because we didn't have dirt ready to use on the one side of the house. So, we began the day in the mine getting loads of dirt. Once making cob, the guys outdid themselves, and were mixing on 5 tarps! I could never catch up! At lunch, there were mixes resting in the tarps. After lunch, we covered the whole lounge and bathroom walls in less than an hour and half! I thought it was much later. We put some cob on one of the kitchen walls, while the guys mixed more. Ended the day a bit early, with four mixes of cob covered up, waiting for Monday morning!

End with a Blast

The week ended with a big push! Lerato told me about lunch time that he told the guys they needed to work hard to make up for the week, and they did! Monday we took off because the weather was cold and windy. Tuesday we started late (because of the cold) and went up on the koppie to get more stone to fill the old compost planned gaps in the wall. We actually found quite a bit in a short time. Didn't start any cob because the forecast was for several degrees below freezing. Since I got home early, I made my first “gringo block.” It's four pieces of wood screwed together to make a frame of sorts, and then placed in the wall with one side exposed to attach something too. In this case, the bottom door hinge.

Gringo block face showing itself.

 Added a bit to the bottom of the center wall where it joins the outer wall.  Want to raise it 30cm or so, then raise the whole wall up to make it level.  Think it's best to put 30cm or so of cob at a time.  Otherwise, if it's gotten hard, takes time to wet it to workability again.

My awesome team, without them, it would take a couple
years to build the house.
(L to R) Rasusu, Lerato, Matsebetsbe, and Notsi.

Wednesday was pretty cool again, so we worked in the “mine” digging dirt and clay out and quit early because Lerato was definitely not feeling well. I was inspired by Mr. Timmons from Larkrise to Candleford, we had watched the episode when he carved the angel in stone, and there has been a stone in the stem-wall that slopes outwards and has been bothering me ever since I noticed it. The problem is that the cob will want to slip down it. Was thinking of borrowing a grinder and generator to cut grooves in the stone, which is all a hassle, so I tried cutting grooves with a small chisel, and it worked! Doesn't look pretty, but it satisfies me. Not worried about the cob wanting to slip off.

My chiseling work.
Photo doesn't do it justice.

So, we only got to doing cob on Thursday, and started the kitchen wall. Friday, we were five, and the magic happened. About 10:30 I noticed they were working 3 tarps, and later there were 4 tarps in some state of use. Notsi was continuously feeding me cob from 10:30 onwards. They guys were just mixing and moving! Days like this make me think the house could be done quickly.

This near corner (kitchen wall) was all done in 2 days,
besides adding to the back wall and center piece
mentioned above.

Ministry

On Thursday, we actually called it an early day as Corné and I were going out to meet Om Koos and Tanie Gussie (in South Africa, elders are respectfully called uncle and aunt). I heard last week that he was having real problems sleeping, and I could relate to that from my anxiety both before and after moving here. When I heard about that, I immediately felt like I should pray for him (that was last week). So we went out to their farm and prayed, and really felt the Holy Spirit there. This morning Tanie Gussie stopped by to say he slept really well last night! Praise God.

Another great thing is that some people gave us a nice bit of support money! We can pay for more electricity, have money for diesel, give a little bonus to the guys.  God is supplying us as we need it.  Not an easy (fun) road to walk, but the best kind of road!

Switch

I'm moving my posting day from Friday to Saturday.  Rasusu only comes on Friday, plus, since we are in town, I can ride down to Rosa Saturday morning to post.

A Little Storm

Sunday night we had a storm come through with lots of wind and then some rain.  The rain was actually good, there was a fire on the mountain behind Rosendal and a little rain helps keep the dust down.  However, I didn't have all the walls covered, didn't have enough plastic, so a couple walls were solid dry and left in the open.

This is the side of the bathroom wall
that suffered the brunt of the storm. You
can see how the rain has postmarked the wall.

This is the other side of the same wall,
can still see the saw marks.

There's really not much damage.  The cob at the top of the rained on walls is a bit crumbly/dusty, so I'm  going to scrap off the top and brush off.

Went up on the koppie today to get some more sandstone to fill the gaps with the change in compost toilet plans!  Had a view of the house don't usually have!  Cob is visible from quite far away.

Saturday night while at Rosa to post on the blog, ran into Derek!  He is the one I met back in March that offered wood for the floors and use of the chainsaw mill.  He was quite friendly, and said we should come visit him and his wife in Natal.  Waiting for a trailer we can borrow, then will make the trip as soon as we can.  He might be able to cut us timber for the window lintels as well.  Would be great to come back with a nice load of wood!  He also will show us his yogurt and keffir, and give us some keffir starter.  Looking forward to the trip!

Day Trip to Lesotho; Building Ideas

Day Trip

The highlight of the past week was a day trip to Buthe-Butha in Lesotho. Pastor Johann from Bethlehem had invited Pastor John, who invited me to come along. My friend, Mark, had been to one of these prayer meetings before and encouraged me to go the next time possible. He was able to come to this meeting as well, which was a nice bonus as we haven't seen each other for quite a while. We met the Bethlehem group in Fouriesburg, then crossed the border together in to Lesotho.

Not actually praying at the moment here, just recording
 next meeting date on phones.

Met a fellow named Jeremy that lead the meeting. There were 4-5 pastors from Lesotho and 4-5 young men in their 20s. Had a really great time of worship and prayer together. At a tea break, Jeremy asked me to share my testimony. So, after doing that, everyone prayed for us and we got some prophetic encouragement and confirmation for Global Gate (our church), Tshepo, and for us personally. See how God is making more connections for us.

Building

Only worked on the house 3 days this week. Wednesday was the prayer meeting and Friday was a holiday, and even Thursday as we were working the weather turned a bit nasty. Friday wouldn't have been a pleasant day to be working outside. Happy nevertheless, looks really nice. Next week I plan to fill the gaps in the stem wall where we planned the indoor compost toilets. Our plan now is to carry out the waste to a compost pile a terrace or two below the house. After those gaps are filled, we'll start cob on the upper half of the house.

Been thinking the past week about tractor mixing. If we could get the cheap tractor for R10k (that we looked at back in December 2012, but is still in two pieces), we could run it back and forth over the mix like others have done. Think we could mix much more cob. Don't know if it's in the plan or not.

On our trip to Ficksburg this week, stopped at the sandstone place where the guy offered to teach me how to cut windowsills.  He wasn't there, but  talked to his wife and left my number.  After driving away, had a thought to hire one of his guys that knows how to do it.  I'd rather pay someone for a couple days, because he is experienced and can do both a better and a faster job.  Really like the idea.

Chronicle Article

I'm posting this before the story about us comes out in the Citrus Chronicle (features section). If you arrived here because of the article, thank you for visiting!! Take a look back through the previous posts, especially the last one about Tshepo. If you are interested in financially supporting us, we direly need the help to get us started! You can go the calvaryinverness.com and find us listed in the missions section and will be able to donate right through the website. Our friends there have started a 20/20 campaign-we are looking for people to commit to $20 for 20 months. It's small change, and enough people will help us tremendously. Thanks again for visiting, please comment or contact us if you have any questions.

Thsepo Generation

One of the reasons for moving back to South Africa was to help feed the poor as best we could. We thought it was a couple years away after we had our house built and got the hang of gardening. It was so cool how we met Pastor John and Nsoaki and they also had a vision for the same thing. We didn't expect things to happen so quickly, but in early May Thsepo Generation, the soup kitchen, was kicked off. (Thsepo, means hope, and in Sotho, the “h” is usually silent, and “t” sometimes, so it's pronounced “se-po”.)

The first day, at two o'clock, no children showed up. About two hours after they were suppose to arrive, 7 children had their first meal at Thsepo. The goal is to provide children of single, unemployed parents a quality, high protein meal, as well help them with their schooling, some spiritual exposure, and some sport and leadership development. Pastor John originally thought to start with 10-12 children. Well, there was quickly twenty on a regular basis. That moved up to thirty and stayed there for awhile. Lately, there has been around fifty! It's too many for the kitchen now, some children must be outside. When spring gets here, hopefully we can set up some tables outside.

I must say, when I walk into the kitchen, it smells very good. The food is really amazing, the cooks- Mirjiam, Agnes and Evelyn, do an amazing job. The children wipe their plates clean with their fingers! Some of the big boys sit next to little ones, and when they are finished, the big ones swoop in and eat the remainder in a jiffy. A funny thing is that when Corné asked the children for their favorite foods, spinach was number one! Cabbage was second, beans third! Would never hear that in the US! The only meat they get is off the soup bones. We plan to raise rabbits (when we are finally on de la Harpe) which are very high in protein and treat the children to grilled rabbit one day! That will be a real treat.

Another reason Thsepo has been so successful has come from the support of the community. There is one farmer that gives 50kgs/110pds of meilie meal/pap a month; another gives 10 liters of fresh milk a week, and plenty more. It has really been encouraging the way the much of the community has become involved in one way or another. There have been repairs on the stoves, and plans for painting the outside and putting in a cement floor (it's currently just dirt covered with black plastic.).

Recently there was a “wool-storm.” People knitted hats and scarfs and donated them for needy children. They brought these to Thsepo, and the children loved it. Actually, they love clothes donations, which are sorely needed by some. It is hard to look at some of the children in their school uniforms that are torn, have holes in the sweaters, shoes very much past their prime, and collars missing.

God has been so good. This was obviously His plan, and it's come together in such an amazing way. We are really excited about the future. Things we know are that it will grow; we would like to start a reading program-in 3^rd grade all their books are in English, to be academically successful, they need to be fluent in English. Sadly, most aren't. A Christian school is also in the plans, starting with Preschool and Kindergarden next year and adding grades every year afterwards.

First Cob on the Stem wall!

I was a little nervous about it, but this past week we finally started putting cob on the stem wall.  Had to get the mixes stiff enough, the first one or two were too wet, but the guys got the hang of it.  Our cob doesn't get that stiff anyways, but was able to get the drip-lip done just fine.  Put on a thinnish layer at first, then a second at the end of the day when the bottom layer was strong enough to hold up.

With the cob on the outer walls, it really is starting to look like a cob house.  Feels really good.  Can't go much higher on our room, need the windowsills.  Work was a little slow, Msebesebe was out two days with his tooth problem, and then on Friday we moved, again.  So was only a 4 day work week, with only 3 of us a few days.  Nevertheless, still was happy with the progress!  Feels like God is pushing us along.  We are finding little ways here and there to get a bit more done with the same effort.  A second wheelbarrow has really helped.  Now our times of moving dirt and clay over are much more efficient. 

Nice looking beginning!