My big project, Finishing the Ward 4 AMICAALL/Nhlangano Town Council Social Center, the PCPP

ITS FINISHED

Peace Corps Partnership Proposal (PCPP) with the Nhlangano Town Council (NTC)


http://swazilandreflections.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-big-project-finishing-ward-4.html

First application draft submitted Feb, 2011
Approved & Funding Begins on PC website May 17th
IT WAS COMPLETELY FUNDED on Sept 8th.
Construction started on Oct 24th.
All exterior construction done by Dec 20th.
Grand Opening Jan 5th, 2012
Round 2 of the Funding arrives in early January.
Interior Only Construction Restarts Jan 16th.
Construction all done Feb 16th (minus a million tiny To Do's)
Project Officially Closed May 4th, 2012

Let the children play, learn & be safe.


As of Aug 25th, 2012, I am no longer a PCV, I am now RPCV (Return Peace Corps Volunteer). This blog is my experience in Swaziland between June of 2010 & Aug of 2012. Enjoy.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Social Center Part 8 (Lots of Activity)

So each day we wait to hear from the Town Council regarding the purchasing of the Doors & Windows and each day we keep progressing with building needs that can be completed without doors and windows.

The original plan was to have the town council provide over night security so nothing gets stolen. But since Mazinga has moved in now he is there every night. And it is very reassuring to know that the man doing the work is man protecting it. No one likes to see there work damaged. Plus, he is basically moving into a brand new room and gets pretty cheap renta. Although it will be a while before he gets power.

Also I have posted all of the pictures of the progress up on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150358607753300.359633.627963299&type=3


And now onto the recap of the week with Friday still to go.

We have completely completed the bathroom with the exception of the windows. What was done in the bathroom. New walls, door frames, floor, wall plastering, painting, 2 brand new sinks, 4 fixed toilets, some exterior plumbing fixed most of the electrical installed and a new door. Ok, so its not 100% but I took a crap in the toilet this morning and it worked great.


The general do it all man - Senzo painting the bathroom.



The new basin as its called here.



Myself in a separate room doing a little destruction. The cinder block/plastered wall needed to have a hole busted in it for the electrical switch. And this is the kind of stuff, I walk around the site looking for things to do myself. The very little time consuming kind of things that slow things down cause they aren't done. We only have myself, Mazinga and Senzo working everyday with Titi and Dennis both helping with on site management but they also have other AMICAALL duties they have to attend to. And the painting is basically Senzo and I doing it all so far which is 3 complete rooms. So my extra hands help out plus I am free. All the rest are making a wage. Paying people to do the work instead of relying on volunteers I felt was not a good option, first there is the commitment and that people tend to very late here and I wanted it done right. So that required a craftsman and they don't work for free. And since this project is basically 2 wks old and we have yet to have a day that was wasted (although Monday it was raining,so it limited some of the work).


Doing the destruction!!


Dennis and Titi also do lots of the random work.


So on Wednesday we were painting, plumbing and the electricians showed up for half a day. They are Town Council electricians and have been assigned to the Center as part of the partnership. At first I think they didn't want to be there and in Swaziland that translates to get their later and go home early. The movie industry taught me how to keep people happy working in very miserable conditions. So it was an easy decision to provide a lunch time Brai (BBQ same food almost but not in the same style as US).

Electrician's completed installing all of the conduits for the entire Center next up on Monday (no idea what they are doing for Friday) is laying the wiring and installing the light switches & plug ins.



1 comment:

  1. Great progress. I'm glad to hear that the toilet passed your 'test'. :)

    ReplyDelete