Advertisement
Published: January 21st 2008
Breaking Ground
It didn't get any softer the further down you went! Here Brent and Luke continue to battle with getting below the grass!Building and Sewing
It has been a while since I updated you all on the projects that are ongoing and completed. Both building and sewing - SO, I thought this would be a good time to let you see pictures of what we have been doing. There are several pictures so I hope you will take the time to look at them all! Some great things going on here!
Last year I mentioned that the Monduli congregation was going to be building a new building. A congregation in the states, along with a few individuals, contributed enough to get the building constructed and a roof on it.
If you remember, the Monduli congregation had been worshipping in a TINY room in town. And when I say TINY … I mean TINY! I was amazed that they got the folks in there that they did. It was so crowded at times that we started keeping chairs in the car to help with the overflow of people.
Everyone helped in just about every phase of the construction! Several from Moshi came down several days to help, some visitors from the states helped, as well as Anthony and I, and
Let the professionals do it!
Everyone did their part - even the members of Monduli congregation. This is Samuel, who also provided the service of being the night guard for the entire time that the building was being constructed! the congregation had a work schedule so that everyone who was able to work did in some way.
Construction here is VERY different from the states too. No backhoes to dig the foundation, no cement trucks to bring the cement, no fancy tools to aid in getting everything just right. It comes down to plain and simple back breaking labor. And if you notice in these pictures, the blocks are NOT brick hole blocks …. They are SOLID concrete! Talk about heavy! Deitmen’s … don’t try this at home!
They began in the dry season so the rains would not hinder them, but this brought the task of digging in the near rock solid ground. The foundation had to be deeper on one end because of the ground layout, and all the dirt from the foundation was used in leveling the floor.
There is still some work to be done, but the congregation is prepared to continue on their own until it is completed. Innocent, the minister there, is possibly one of my favorite people here. He truly understands that a congregation must be responsible for their own building and that is why he rallied them
Will it ever be deep enough?
At one point it was so deep that I had to either get help to get out of the ditch or walk all the way to the other end of the foundation where it was shallower. Jacob is in on it this time! together so they all worked on it as a group. They have a special collection each Sunday for new benches, and already have the money for, and are constructing, the bathrooms. (They were going to do doors and windows next, but the local government told them that they had to have a bathroom if they were going to assemble.)
Now, when they meet, they can spread out if you will and have room to grow!
Continuing with news of working with our hands we move to needle and thread instead of bricks and mortar.
The Sew Be It Project has had several things occur that I haven’t passed on to you yet. As you know there were so many people who donated goods to us for this project. There were boxes and boxes that once I got into sorting the goodies inside, I found treasures galore!! All of you out there who parted with some of your projects might see some of them in some of these pictures!!
The ladies of 3 congregations have sewn laptops now for 3 different orphanages, (which I will talk about later) but there are also some things that I found
Reinforced Footer!
Due to the nature of the soil here, they take their foundations serious! They hauled rocks, HUGE rocks, and very specifically placed them in the foundation ditch and then completely covered them over with mud before laying the block. that were near completion that I went ahead and finished so we could give them out. They don’t do anyone any good sitting in a box now do they!
One couple at Arusha that got married was the proud recipient of a quilt top that was so close to being done that I was able to finish it in a matter of a couple of hours. A little zizzag here, a border there, and wallah!! A nice wall hanging or lap quilt, complete with hearts and loving swans!
Next, I found a pattern for two rag dolls. I had all the stuff to finish both of them and in a matter of a few hours handed one over to Kissa, for her son Christian, and the other is here waiting for a great opportunity to present itself.
There were two different quilt blocks that I found that were completed so I just finished them out with a backing and binding and gave them as door prizes to two ladies in Moshi when we had sewing day there.
Emmy Lenjima has really stepped up and this is one of the quilt tops she made herself being presented
Dig it out! Fill it in!
After digging out the footer, we had to fill in the "floor" with all the dirt that was piled into the middle of the building site. Even Daniel got in on the fun! to Sayuni for her new granddaughter. Plus I found one that was nearly finished in a bright color pattern an it is ready for the next baby of the congregation!
I mentioned in one of our latest updates about the signature quilt that we did for Frances and Margaret Wechesa. NOW CHECK IT OUT!!! Didn’t they do an amazing job! I cut all the pieces for each of the blocks and gave them out at Church with instructions. I was very surprised to see that many of the ladies embroidered their names on their block. I was lasy and only wrote my name in permanent marker!
It seems that everyone has figured out that Emmy Lenjima is my protégé as they all gave her their finished blocks. When I got home she had already sewn all the blocks she had together and all I had to do was set 5 blocks together, add it to what she had already done, put on a border, and then quilt it!! I think even they were amazed when they saw it all together how one block connected to a bunch of others really can make a beautiful quilt!
As for
Not your average Brick Hole Block!
All you builders out there .. check out these blocks .. no holes!! Solid concrete! John, and everyone else, brings them in one at a time! group projects here is an update on those.
The ladies of Arusha have really stepped it up so I thought it would be nice to let them do something to keep for themselves. How appropriate to create a Friendship Star pattern. We met at the building and after some instruction, I let them choose their own fabrics. This was SOOOO funny to watch. It was like kids - they were diving into all the fabrics like I have never seen before! Afterward, they each cut their own pieces, arranged them in the pattern shown and sewed them together. Those that were quicker went ahead and put on the backing and bound them. Finished blocks kept coming to me for pictures for a couple of weeks! They all didn’t turn out EXACTLY like the original pattern - but hey! - quilting is about imagination and creativity right?
The Monduli ladies have been such a blessing to me! I love that area and you have heard me talk of Monduli so much you could probably get there yourself. The sewing project was no disappointment. We met in a small room and everyone was eager to get started. After the class
Finally some concrete!!
After the dirt portion of the floor was leveled by pouring water over it and pounding it with a flat board, the concrete could begin to be poured - one wheel barrel load at at time - ALL hand mixed! was nearly over, the preacher, Innocent, asked if it was possible that he sew too! So, we gave him a needle and thread and he went to work on his own lap quilt.
They invited the children that were to be presented with these quilts and their care givers to the worhsip services and presented the quilts to them after services. A great evangelistic tool don’t you think!
There is one final project still in the process of being completed and that is the Moshi ladies and the lap quilts they are finishing for the orphanage in Bomba’ngombe. I will be sure and get those pictures to you when they are finished and delivered! They met this past Saturday to start tacking and binding them, so it won’t be long until they have completed them!
I am thrilled with what we have been able to do, but there is a nice twist to our Sew Be It project. A few months back, Sarah, a lady who Julie Richardson had become acquainted with, wanted to know how we were doing our projects. She came and helped one day and later we found out that solely because of what
Water by the barrel fulls!
There is no water on site so we had to carry it all, in 50 gallon barrels in the back of our pickup! After a few days we found someone who had a large tank and he was able to provide it for the masons. we were doing she helped to create a sewing project for women who either had come against some tragedy or had lost nearly everything. As far as I know they are still sewing and making a type of fabric handbag to sell in the market.
I do hope you enjoy the pictures! It makes such a difference when you can see what is being done. I hope you don’t mind that I waited for a while before giving you such a large update, but I thought it would be nice to see how much we have done!! Once the lapquilts are delivered to the orphange in Bomba’ngombe we will have completed 102 quilting project pieces!! We began our first project just over a year ago, let’s pray for similar results this year!
Busy hands are blessed hands! Love to you all, and let me hear from you!!
Shasta
Advertisement
Tot: 0.042s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0203s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
