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A journey of service
to
families in Kenya
- one by one |
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Building (Another) New Home
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In
August 2002, Moja Moja
constructed it's first
new home for a family from Kibera slum. Two years later, Moja Moja funded the construction of its second new home in September 2004.
The
original project was to replace the leaky roof which made the home nearly
unlivable during the rainy seasons, but upon further inspection, the posts
in the walls had been eaten so completely by termites that the home was no
longer safe to live in and a completely new structure had to be constructed.
The home is in a village in a rural area of northwestern Kenya called
"Western District."
Though it was raining during most of the construction, it was still
completed in 10 days. |
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This house was built to replace
the home of an 80 year old widow who lives by herself.
She makes a living raising much of her own
food on her small farm.
She couldn't believe it
when she heard that she was really
getting a new house. |
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The house
was built with the traditional stick and mud walls over
the same location where the original house had stood a
few days ago. Cyprus poles were treated
with oil and sunk into the ground. Local sticks formed the cross pieces |
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The new roof
was sponsored by a mother-daughter team from Seattle in the U.S.
With the roof nearly completed, the mud could then be packed within the lattice work,
even though it was raining hard. |
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With an
audience of farm animals, the mud walls were completed as doors and
windows were fitted into place. Meanwhile, the grandmother, living in a
neighboring structure, kept busy preparing food for the workers. |
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After a
week, the primary construction was completed.
The walls were then left to dry until they hardened as shown in this
similar structure. |
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Two weeks
later, the mud workers returned to apply the "smooth coat" of mud, giving
the walls a durable finish, much like this
neighboring house.
The grandmother was very grateful to
all and she is thankful to be dry when it rains. She is now so proud
of where she lives. |
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