uMkhanyakude District Municipality

We are up at 5.45am ready to leave at 7am for the hour drive to the home and family we are biulding for.
On the way, we picked up two of Nkosie's children and took them to school. All the school children either walk or get picked up, they wear wonderfully colourful uniforms, and are very smart. The Mama's and Gogo's do the washing in bowls and hang it out to dry on tge fences, and washing lines between trees. Nkosie has 6 children between 2 and 10 years old.

We arrive, and the biulders we are working with look a little bemused by us 7 Gogos who have come to biuld! But we get stuck in stacking breeze blocks in piles of 3 wide and 5 tall around the footprint of the home. We check for spiders and scorpions before lifting. It is hot work, but we pull together as a team.

Next, we learn how to mix the mortor and run the water from the Jojo. That's the large green watertank that will be attached to the home to collect rain for the home, when we have finished.

We work from 9 to 10, then snack. The son of the family helps us all day. The Gogo and daughter keep doing little dances and smiling. They are so happy.

We lay 6 courses of blocks today! We use mortar to fill between all the blocks. We have an hour for lunch in the shade, and they apply more suncream. The chickens come to see us and an either thin doggy. So on way homecwe but a large bag of dog food for tomorrow, it will last a long time.

The biulders are very patient with us but seemed happy with our work. We all smile and have fun together. We clean our tools, leaving us happy with ourselves. A great day, we havecaching arms n backs but wirth it.

Chris has explained that this is like us being gifted a million pound home and watching being biult, decorated, and then, at the end, being handed the keys. This home we are biulding is a gift to them at the end we will hand them the keys, it is emotional.Read more