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Stories from the build-site - Team Termite Queen

8/25/2015

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It is an exciting week now with a lot of work to be done. Friday will be the last day for all the volunteers on site. The Kenyan volunteers will be returning to their studies/ jobs and the UK volunteers will be flying back to the cold (?). The school’s students will be leaving to prepare to come back for school on 2nd September. They will all be sad to go but let’s not focus on that too much yet…there’s a lot of work to be done!

We have 3 days to finish roofing the classroom block, complete the gatehouse for the gate to be fitted and to finish the gable wall in the kitchen. 

It is a pleasure now to be reporting you from none other than Team Termite Queen. They have been working hard on a variety of tasks here on site and now wish to share with you how it has been. 

“Let us begin by explaining our team name…. it came from an experience we had very early on that will bond us forever….

On the second day of working, we were faced with an unexpected challenge. The task was simply to landscape the courtyard by digging up a mound and spreading the earth. All seemed to be well until an obscure white wood-like substance presented itself. Upon further inspection we saw some rather crawly creatures writhing all over it. As we dug further and further, more presented themselves. The Kenyan team seemed to get increasingly intrigued whilst the UK team became increasingly squeamish. What had they unveiled?
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All seemingly became clear upon the discovery of a black case…this supposedly was the ‘treasure’ we had been digging for. The UK team were soon to learn that this was the home of the Termite Queen. As if the find was not enough, they were soon taught that this was a precious delicacy they simply must try. After a while of debating who should be the lucky ones, two of the UK volunteers and the Kenyan volunteer leader took the plunge.

We are yet to see if the promised health benefits were actualised: ‘free lungs’, loss of weight, general raising of body temperature. Perhaps a third of a termite queen simply is not enough. The lasting benefit we can be sure of is the power bestowed on this team by their new found team name.” Bethany Moran, UK Volunteer

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The team elected Anne, a local volunteer, to be their team leader:

“I am very happy to be team leader and I thank all my members for electing me. The work was challenging on the first day but as we continued it was good and very much enjoyable. 

The physical work has been tough but we, as a team, quickly got used to it after a few days and now it is a really good job. We have very funny stories from all groups; that is UK Team, Kenyan Team and the deaf.

The teamwork made everything easy because all the team leaders made sure that his or her team members are around at their respective places of work at the right time. After reporting to Riandu there was a kind of barrier in communications because we couldn’t understand the sign language from the deaf students and also the UK team used to speak very fast in their English. Fortunately, we got used to it after a while and now communication is very good. 

It is a privilege to lead the UK team, deaf students and also the rest of the volunteers. We pray God to bless and continue blessing us all abundantly.

This school building project has favoured our community and will be useful to people across Kenya. It means that deaf children who had no secondary school can now continue their education after primary school. It has also created opportunities for the surrounding community.” Anne Muchungu, Kenyan Volunteer
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“One of the struggles of the team Termite Queen is that we haven’t always been working on the same building at the same time. At one point we had one member working on trusses, another two/ three working on the classroom and another working on the gatehouse. So because of this, when we do work on the same part of the buildsite, we make sure to enjoy it. For instance, while working on the classroom this week, we have been throwing and catching the bricks to speed up the process of brick laying. Because of this, we have managed together to build an interior wall in the space of only a few days. Previously it may have taken longer. 

We have even been using time saving tactics to remove the dead bricks from the classroom, instead of filling a wheelbarrow and wheeling it under the scaffolding and all around the building, we decided to throw them through the window space to a waiting wheelbarrow. All the while, being safe of course!” Ali Dunn, UK Volunteer
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“In conclusion, we have ensured that we make our weaknesses to be our strength and maintain our strength. We have also employed any necessary tactics to fight off challenges in any circumstance. It is our hope and prayer that the most high God will bless the work of our hands with the new skills we have acquired during the project. We are also ready and determined to support this Riandu Project to ensure that our deaf in the community are are favoured in our country. We want to stop the ignorance about deafness and so they will be able to benefit the entire country. Then they will be able to be independent. This is the change we want to see.” Ken, Kenyan Volunteer
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Stories from the build-site - Team Wazito - August 2015

8/13/2015

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The Project Riandu build site is alive with activity. Under the instruction of the school’s Board of Managers, St Mary Magdalene School for the deaf is growing by the day. In this blog, we bring you the latest stories from one of the build teams. On site we have a fantastic mixture of workers: students from the deaf school, Kenyan student volunteers, UK student volunteers and ever-patient skilled labourers to guide us in the build. They are all working together with the same mission: to expand this school to be able to provide deaf teenagers from across eastern Kenya with the empowering benefits education brings. Day by day this involves digging, brick-laying, sawing, cement mixing, wheelbarrow racing and landscaping. The work is hard and the sun is hot. As a quick reminder, there is 1 x kitchen, 1 x dormitory block and 1 x teaching block currently completed. Right now, we are building 1 x teaching block, 1 x dormitory block, 1 x gatehouse and the perimeter fence. We aim to make this school large enough for 200 students, as the demand requires.

The teams we have are Wazito (strong), Conqueror Elephant, Simba (Lion), Farasi (horse) and Termite Queen. You will notice, with time, that each team is sporting a different colour of tie dye t-shirt. Let’s hear how the first week on the build-site was for Team Wazito…

“Working alongside each other is a big mix of fun, hard work, and a lot of learning. We have all learnt a lot of skills on the job during landscaping, metalwork, mixing mortar, building walls and making supports for concrete. We have also had to be a little creative in our methods, it is amazing what can be done with a few off-cuts of wood and second hand nails (don’t worry, it’s all safe!!).


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Team Wazito: Joseph (student from deaf school), Jo (UK volunteer), Zachary (Kenyan volunteer), Danny (UK volunteer) and Daniel (Kenyan volunteer).
Communicating has been a challenge that has been fun. Passing instructions through Kenyan Sign Language (KSL), Swahili and English has been an amazing experience, and one that we have embraced with an open mind. Learning to fingerspell (the alphabet in KSL) at the beginning was very valuable. As well as language, we have been teaching each other about our cultures and getting to know each other. Yesterday we had some interesting discussions about relationships in the UK compared to Kenya!

We have had one “extremely dangerous” encounter with local wild life! As we were digging and moving rubble during the day, a massive, terrifying cobra jumped out at us. Luckily, quick as a flash, Zachary (a fearless Kenyan volunteer) defended the camp from a sure to be snake infestation by attacking its head with a spade. The menacing 8 inch (thin as a pencil) beast stood no chance. The dead corpse was then kindly delivered to Ali Mac’s unsuspecting hand. Let’s hope that mummy cobra doesn’t find out.

We have been getting very familiar with the various scorpions, furry caterpillars, frogs, spiders and lions (joke) that appear in every nook and cranny.

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Works on the gatehouse using the bricks made on site (Team Simba!).
We all agree that one of the best feelings is at the end of a long day of hard graft, when you can step back and survey the day’s work. The progress we are making is fantastic. Each day the school feels increasingly real and ready to have impact. It is especially fantastic that the work is being done by such a large team of amazing people dedicated to the cause.

Our biggest thank you goes to the school’s Board of Managers. They are working so very hard to manage the build-site works and to accommodate all the volunteers here on site. It is no easy feat to cater for 40 people in a rural village in Kenya. We are grateful for all the emergency trips for milk, fuel and maize that they are constantly doing for our benefit. We are so excited to be supporting their project and grateful to be invited into such an incredible vision. They are raring to go and cannot wait to get the school up and running. With the excited students working alongside us, this more than enough motivation to keep digging, keep sawing and keep smiling.”

Great job Team Wazito! Please watch this space for more perspectives from the ground and more experiences from across the teams. Keep on your toes about when these updates will appear, limited internet means they could be very sporadic!

To all the friends and family back in the UK, your loved ones here are doing very well and cannot wait to tell you all the stories they are collecting. Expect to greet more muscly versions of your volunteers upon their return at the airport (maybe with concrete still plastered in their hair).

Please keep giving! We are seeing so clearly how far all the donations are going. A real school is being built here with real students! Any small donations really can have a large impact for many years to come. There is a lot of work to do! https://mydonate.bt.com/events/projectriandu

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The build team, church council and supporters at the Local Church (Siambogo) on 09/08/15.
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“Cascade: funding transformative student projects thanks to donations from alumni and friends of the University of Nottingham”
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St Andrews bishopthorpe

BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR DEAF CHILDREN IN KENYA