The decision to finish the first five houses together makes it possible to benefit from economies of scale.
All the first five houses are now roofed. The first house has all doors and windows, a staircase and most internal finishing. Now the other four houses are about to be secured with doors and windows and to have their staircases built.
Learning from the first house, the building and management team have now decided to manufacture all doors and windows on-site, This will reduce costs and provide a training opportunity. An experienced professional metalworker will train some of the MWAMKO volunteers in making them and they will work together. This work will begin as soon as the electricity company connects the site to the supply. The staircases are to be made by carpenters who were trained early on in the project, again with experienced supervision. The important role of the project in advancing the skills and life opportunities of unemployed young people continues.
The project actively seeks green and sustainable solutions in every way possible. After the windows and doors are installed the next task will be to fit the solar panels on the roofs and also the water-harvesting gutters and tanks, Other roof work will be to fit a chimney to each house..
Before the first five families can move in there is still much work to do - including internal fitting-out, connecting the electrical and plumbing systems already installed. We are hoping that we shall raise funds to install an onsite sewage treatment plant with re-usable (not drinkable) treated water but it is expensive and unlikely to be possible very soon. The cost is roughly equivalent to building three more houses. The first work on the site, in 2019, was to build a septic tank. That will have to be used if we are to see families move to the new homes in the near future. If and when the funds become available the existing septic tank will be cleaned out and the treatment plant put in one chamber and the recycled water in the other. This would be a huge advantage to the families, spared the constant expense of emptying the septic tank as well having the benefit of a steady supply of recycled water.
See what the site looks like now!
