This work felt like the proper hard graft that we had imagined we’d be doing. When we got digging deep in the blazing heat, hammering, sawing and even preparing the mud (which meant squelching in our wellie boots for hours until the mud was soft). However, it was a new and exciting work and most importantly by the end of the week we would be giving someone who desperately needed it a new home.
The family consisted of a Grandma, a Father and four children age 2,5,8 and 14. This family had a small mud house already but on many occasions the grandmother and the children would be thrown out when the Father came home drunk, forcing them to sleep outside. The closer we looked at this situation the more needy they seemed. The mother had left a few months previously as she couldn’t cope with the situation.
Also... the family were ridden with jiggers (these are horrid little tic things that get under your skin, multiply and eat away at your flesh. Not only are they really itchy they are very painful making it difficult to walk). Jiggers come from certain types of mud.. the type of mud that we were handling daily to build this house. (You can imagine there was quite a bit of paranoia on our part as we were constantly checking our feet hoping that the jiggers hadn’t decided to visit us!) It seemed clear that there was a whole lot more that this family needed than a new house.
The family consisted of a Grandma, a Father and four children age 2,5,8 and 14. This family had a small mud house already but on many occasions the grandmother and the children would be thrown out when the Father came home drunk, forcing them to sleep outside. The closer we looked at this situation the more needy they seemed. The mother had left a few months previously as she couldn’t cope with the situation.
Also... the family were ridden with jiggers (these are horrid little tic things that get under your skin, multiply and eat away at your flesh. Not only are they really itchy they are very painful making it difficult to walk). Jiggers come from certain types of mud.. the type of mud that we were handling daily to build this house. (You can imagine there was quite a bit of paranoia on our part as we were constantly checking our feet hoping that the jiggers hadn’t decided to visit us!) It seemed clear that there was a whole lot more that this family needed than a new house.
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