If you received our February newsletter, you will know that we have just started acquiring materials for the construction of our new church building. Exciting times !
Unfortunately, things are never straightforward here...
On Monday, Etienne went with Papa Antoine (church member and famous local builder) to the shop selling the cheapest cement in town. (It was about £2 cheaper per tonne and we needed 4 tonnes... Every little helps!) They confirmed that they had 4 tonnes of cement in their store and that they could hold onto it until we needed it to be delivered to the building site. Delivery was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the same day we were hoping the sand would arrive.
Etienne went back to the cement store on Tuesday and paid for the 4 tonnes. In the meantime, Papa Antoine spoke with the sand people and learned that they could only deliver the sand on Thursday. They then spoke with the cement people to say they would take delivery of the cement on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Etienne and Papa Antoine trotted off to the cement store to ask them to ferry the cement to the site by motorbike, only to discover that they had sold the cement we had paid for to someone else and now they had no more cement. Both Etienne and Papa Antoine was pretty annoyed and started asking when they were expecting their next cement delivery. The young guy in the shop responded incredibly disrespectfully and avoided answering their question. At that point, they decided the safest bet was to get their money back and go elsewhere.
That process wasn't straightforward either!
The young guy said their money was with his boss, the shop owner, and that he wasn't in town. Antoine asked him for his boss' phone number and Etienne called the boss to ask him what was going on with their money. The boss said he was on his way back to Kandi. Etienne asked how long they should expect to wait, to which the boss replied, "Well, I'm on my motorbike, and you know they can breakdown so I don't know when I'll be back."
Papa Antoine was particularly unimpressed with that response and immediately phoned his mate, the chief of police. (It's all about who you know in this country!) The chief of police said he would arrive in about 10 minutes.
It just so happened that as the chief of police arrived, the boss also appeared on his motorbike! He hastily returned the money and Etienne and Papa Antoine left in search of another cement store.
Fortunately, there was one not too far away and delivery was arranged for the same day. The sand was also delivered, so Papa Antoine's brickmaker friends were able to get started on the making the brick mix...
Take a bit of sand...
Add a tonne of cement and some water...
Put it in a mould... And voila! Bricks! 406 of them to be precise.
That picture was taken on Thursday. Another 400 or so bricks were made yesterday and the remaining 800 needed for the foundations will be made next week. In the meantime, we have to keep these bricks well watered ! You learn something new every day :-)
Unfortunately, things are never straightforward here...
On Monday, Etienne went with Papa Antoine (church member and famous local builder) to the shop selling the cheapest cement in town. (It was about £2 cheaper per tonne and we needed 4 tonnes... Every little helps!) They confirmed that they had 4 tonnes of cement in their store and that they could hold onto it until we needed it to be delivered to the building site. Delivery was tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, the same day we were hoping the sand would arrive.
Etienne went back to the cement store on Tuesday and paid for the 4 tonnes. In the meantime, Papa Antoine spoke with the sand people and learned that they could only deliver the sand on Thursday. They then spoke with the cement people to say they would take delivery of the cement on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Etienne and Papa Antoine trotted off to the cement store to ask them to ferry the cement to the site by motorbike, only to discover that they had sold the cement we had paid for to someone else and now they had no more cement. Both Etienne and Papa Antoine was pretty annoyed and started asking when they were expecting their next cement delivery. The young guy in the shop responded incredibly disrespectfully and avoided answering their question. At that point, they decided the safest bet was to get their money back and go elsewhere.
That process wasn't straightforward either!
The young guy said their money was with his boss, the shop owner, and that he wasn't in town. Antoine asked him for his boss' phone number and Etienne called the boss to ask him what was going on with their money. The boss said he was on his way back to Kandi. Etienne asked how long they should expect to wait, to which the boss replied, "Well, I'm on my motorbike, and you know they can breakdown so I don't know when I'll be back."
Papa Antoine was particularly unimpressed with that response and immediately phoned his mate, the chief of police. (It's all about who you know in this country!) The chief of police said he would arrive in about 10 minutes.
It just so happened that as the chief of police arrived, the boss also appeared on his motorbike! He hastily returned the money and Etienne and Papa Antoine left in search of another cement store.
Fortunately, there was one not too far away and delivery was arranged for the same day. The sand was also delivered, so Papa Antoine's brickmaker friends were able to get started on the making the brick mix...
Take a bit of sand...
Add a tonne of cement and some water...
Put it in a mould... And voila! Bricks! 406 of them to be precise.
That picture was taken on Thursday. Another 400 or so bricks were made yesterday and the remaining 800 needed for the foundations will be made next week. In the meantime, we have to keep these bricks well watered ! You learn something new every day :-)
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