House Construction African Style

Last Wednesday, January 30, 2019

House Construction African Style

Remember Geoffrey and the brick-making business? He showed me and John his brick-making business, aka cinder blocks...take a look at the Cement Mason post. Geoffrey is part of the “Kundayo Business Empire,” which is my name for it. As you know, Kundayo is the name of the apartments where I’m staying. It’s owned by the Kundayo family and Mama Kundayo is the force behind that success. Maso manages the apartments and Geoffrey manages the brick/cinderblock/bed-making business. Papa Kundayo works the hardware store part of it. I haven’t met him but I’ve heard that he exists.

Well, Geoffrey took us out to the place where Mama K is having her “retirement cottage” built. OMG!! It’s a 5 bedroom house with a smaller house behind it.  Each bedroom has its own bathroom.  The rooms are large with picture windows in many of them.  I was thinking that people downsize when they retire but Mama says that she wants to be with the grandchildren.

OK, in truth, as you look at these construction photos, you’ll have to use your imagination because only the basic structure with the bricks and some utilities are done. Ever since I taught that pre-apprenticeship class, I’ve been interested in construction so if you also have such an interest, take a look.  (Or scroll down to something you find more interesting.)

The house(es)

The entire house, so far, is made out of concrete. The bricks, the beams, the ceilings, and even the outside wall is concrete.  The bricks, of course, come from Geoffrey’s brick business. I’ll just throw in the photos with an occasional comment.

Here’s the outside of the house. It’s going to be 2-stories.

Outside again

The entrance

Outside yet again

Here are some inside shots. 

Concrete beams 

A ceiling made of concrete

A temporary door

Electrical...whatevers

Geoffrey in the kitchen

Notice the picture window. There are lots of windows throughout the house

even though the photos I took don’t show them.

 

Now let’s go around to the back of the house

Behind the big house, there’s another little house.  Janet calls it the Dada house. A Dada house is usually a small hut where the servants live.  I think that this “Dada House” will be for the grandchildren when Mama Kundayo wants to get rid of them for awhile.

So when will this house be finished, you ask? Well, here in Tanzania, there isn’t anything called a “mortgage” for the average citizen, so if you want to build a house, you have to have the cash.  Thus, houses are built in bits and pieces as money becomes available. This “estate” has a long ways to go, so, as Janet remarked, “I will be dust before it’s finished.”  Probably.

The Wall

A wall is being built around the property.  I was most fascinated with that.  Here is how you do it.

First. Mix up some mortar.

1.     Sift the sand to get the big chunks out.

2.     Mix the sifted sand with concrete mix and water.

3.     Put it in a wheelbarrow and take it over to the wall.

Second. Use the mortar to build a section of the wall. Start from the end and work toward the middle.

Third. String a small rope along the top of the brick line so you can make sure the bricks are level.

Fourth. Mortar bricks into place along the top of the wall.

Fifth. Smooth it out and finish it off. Get it ready for the plaster finish.

Cool, huh!

Ruby Rocks

Janet discovered some rocks scattered on the side of the house and in the back.  These are special rocks from the north of Tanzania.  Rubies are found in these rocks.  The Kundayo brothers bought a couple of truck loads, took out the ones with the good rubies and plan to use the left-over rocks in their building projects. These rocks are very colorful with mostly sparkly aqua and stripes of white and black.  Occasionally, we saw bits of red which aren’t exactly rubies but they are ruby wanna-be’s. I picked up several, myself.

The Shamba

After leaving the house construction site, we went to the Kundayo Shamba.  A shamba is a farm where fruits and vegetables are grown—mostly to sell. The Kundayo Shamba doesn’t have any crops right now because the plan is to use the land for a small development of houses. For now it’s filled with rock piles and large holes. The view from this place is pretty nice.  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

The Restaurant

Geoffrey’s wife has a restaurant business.  Here’s the inside.

We met his wife and Geoffrey’s 2 younger sons. She was introduced as Mama Sydney.  Women are often introduced by the name of their oldest child. In this case, the oldest child is a teenage son named Sydney, so the mother is called Mama Sydney. (Hmmm. Since I have no children, does that mean I’m Mama Nameless? Mama NoOne? or just No Mama?)

In the restaurant we sat and chatted for a bit.  I had a Stoney which is like a ginger beer without the alcohol.  I rarely drink soft drinks and then I realized that one of the reasons I don’t, is because they are so full of sugar and chemicals.  I think that this Stoney wins an award for sugar and chemicals. Yes, it was soooooooo yummy. Addictive. That’s what it’s all about, eh. Thank you Coca Cola for my sugar high.

The Rental Businesses

Next, we went on to an area with several small businesses.  The Kundayo Business Empire includes a couple of small spaces for rent as businesses.  One of the spaces is being renovated.

The other one is a bridal shop.  We went into this shop and talked to the woman, there. Her name is Judy. We saw quite a few wedding dresses which she said they get from all over the world…The US, China, etc. The brides can buy the dresses, but usually they rent them. Judy said that in the future, they plan to start making their own. Brides can bring in photos or ideas and get a custom creation.

The Kundayo Business Empire.  That was last Wednesday’s adventure.