Dear friends and family,The dry season, which is coming to a close in another month, is the time of year that sun-dried and fired bricks are made for the construction of the VST schools. Each class and student is assigned a quota of bricks and the work is very exhausting.
(I hope I captured that in the attached pictures - see the slide show for these photos.)
Land is cleared and plowed up by hand using the big hoes they call CHAPAKAZI. Next, water is irrigated into the field and further hoeing and stomping is underway to work the soil into muddy clay. Hundreds of brick molds are then brought to the scene and students literally run all day long back and forth from the mud pits to the drying field, which had to be cleared of all grass and stones to allow a flat surface. Once the bricks are laid out to dry, they are covered with grass threshed by the students. This keeps the fresh bricks from drying too quickly and cracking.
After about a week, the grass is removed for final drying. We will move the bricks from the field to school property across the valley, where they will be stacked and burnt. The mounds, each containing from 1500 to 3000 or more bricks, are covered with mud to retain the heat. In the meantime, students have spent hours cutting with hand axes and collecting fire wood for the burning.
I asked my students what future students will be doing at Idigima, since the current classes will be involved in all the building projects. With some sarcasm, but I hope a lot of pride, one student said, “They will get to spend their time in study.”
The bricks made this year will be enough to erect three buildings, and possibly starting a fourth building for the science labs.
For the walls to go up and the floors to be “poured,” we need a lot of cement, which is one area of contribution that is always in high demand. With 29 VST schools at various stages of construction, the students are making a lot of bricks. We invite you to join them in building schools that will provide both them and their younger siblings and future families with an education.
May God bless you richly for your involvement.
Gary and Joanne
