Brick Making in the Village

So this is the hut that I spent the night in at Pastor John Francis Osire's mothers compound.  I really wanted to connect in a personal way with Pastor Francis.  Being relational is the best way.  For me, a white person, to get down and dirty working like this expresses a lot.  It was amazing how many people dropped by to see with their own eyes this muzungu making bricks.  I even had one old man ask if I was married.  He must of had a daughter he wanted to marry off.  It was an awesome time to have great discussions together about life and ministry while working on building their new home.

This is when you can say that I just started to get "my feet wet" or in this case, dirty.

Its important to push the mud in all the corners so that you make a good brick.

This is the brick making station. Very very slippery in the mud.

In the background you can see the balls of mud being rolled together for the bricks.  I'm washing my brick mold well so that the mud will not stick to the sides.

You can see my first two bricks didn't turn out very well.  I told them that they can use those for the latrine. =)  It will take more than a thousand bricks per hut.  Each brick costs about 50 shillings, which is about two cents to make.  I saved them about 8000 shillings which was a huge blessing to them.  That is about $3 US dollars.

This is the grass being brought in for covering the bricks till they dry and to be used on the roof.

There is a technique in making the bricks fall out of the mold.

The first step in the process of making mud bricks is to get the mud to have just the right amount of moisture.  This was a huge termite mound which makes the strongest bricks.

Break time!  I was given a chair to sit on in the new hut and was served eggs, cassava chips, chapati and a soda.

This is the best mode of transportation to the villages.  I also had Pastor Francis's son Paul ride with me on back wearing my backpack.

When constructing a home they will often start with the structure of the roof and then thatch it before they start stacking bricks for the walls.

This is the part of the process where you smooth the mud after packing it.

This was my bed in the hut for the night.  They had a mat and mattress for me.  I only had to bring a net to sleep under.

Here I am carrying the mold to where we stage the bricks to be covered to dry.

This is a flying squirrel that Amos and Paul caught at their place.  This one broke their homemade trap.

Yes, we roasted it over a fire for a tasty treat before the ride home.

Amos left and Paul right enjoyed this source of protein with me which did actually taste like chicken.

These are all mud bricks covered with grass to dry before being used.  I made almost 150 bricks in about 31/2 hours that day.  Boy, did my body pay for it the next week.  My age is showing.  They are hoping to make three sleeping huts and one cooking hut when all is done.

This is a photo of the top of the hut as grass is being put on.  I think it looks pretty cool.  Everything is tied with grass instead of string.