Hut Building in Mwandi Village

Loading up for our trip to Mwandi

Heading to the Job Site

Getting Dirt from a Termite Mound

Vertical Pole Structure

During our travels, we keep an eye open for an opportunity to give back.  We found our opportunity to build huts for HIV affected families with Christian Mission Partners in Mwandi.  Mwandi is a village of about 7-8,000 people.  It is located about 2 hours from Livingston.  The fee to volunteer with CMP is about $20 US per day.  This helps cover the costs of meals, lodging, and transportation to and from the job site, tools, and materials. 

For 3 days, we worked on a two room, 3x6 meter mud hut.  We built in the hot sun from 8am-12 and 2-4pm daily.  It was a short, sweaty, exhausting day.  During transit to and from the jobsite, the 11 of us loaded up into the back of a truck and sat on the tools and materials.  When we got to the job site, kids in yesterday’s faded, played-in clothes came running up to the truck with joyous smiles and waving hands.  When we left, they chased us down the road, running as fast as they could.  As we built, they congregated underfoot.  To keep the kids occupied, one or two people would move away from the house and take turns swinging the kids around or teaching them English (many of the kids exhaust their English after two phrases, “what’s your name?” and “I want to be your friend.”).  Their favorite play-friend was Connor because he had the longest endurance when it came to swinging them from under his legs up high into the sky.  They were also very interested in Heidi’s prosthetic leg.  She entertained them several times by removing and re-attaching her leg.  Most of us found that it was more exhausting to play with the kids than it was to build the hut, but both types of work were rewarding, educational, and enjoyable. 

During the construction process I learned that once constructed, mud huts will last anywhere between 5-20 years (depending on whether or not yearly maintenance is performed).  The building process happens in the following steps: 1. Dig holes aprox 18” apart in sand for vertical poles.  2. Load dirt from deep termite hills into truck, transport to job site.  3.  Hatchet out brackets in 2x4 and place as a brace on top of poles one nail per each pole.  4.  Use strings to secure horizontal poles every 6-10” along vertical poles.  5.  Mix termite mud and water for mud balls.  6.  Stack mud balls inside walls.  7.  Nail metal roof on top.  8.  Locals complete interior and exterior finish mudding.

Tin roof on, mud balls going into wall structure

Main Street in Mwandi Village

Joel and I talked about how some of us seemed to be experiencing our “hot and hungry” moments (those inevitable travel moments when the temper gets shorter, remarks become more cutting, and frustration runs higher than normal).  My moment came as I tried to untangle a web of string.  I was in a hot, crowded space with a hammer banging on the tin roof above my head while kids pulled on the strings of the wadded mess and the building crew yelled that they needed more string cut.  I tried to walk away from the chaos, but the kids followed me.  I got them involved in the process taking turns running strings, but it was just another form of chaos.  I was relieved when Chad came over with his camera and distracted the kids.

After supper and a shower, many of us went directly to sleep while others lounged in hammocks chatting and enjoying a beer.  Paula and Dan made sure we had open-air western toilets and hot showers (2x/day a water tank is heated by firewood).  They made sure we had good food to eat (local sheemah, mac and cheese with eggplant, spaghetti, grilled cheese).  And they made sure we had a place to sleep (big tents with floor mattresses).  While we took our noon siestas, 3 donkeys along with a gaggle of chickens and roosters roamed freely.

The more I worked, the more I believed that the building was a symbol of other dynamics taking place: teamwork, knowledge of self, communication.  We were white ambassadors to Mwandi, the kind that leave a long-term impression on a community.  I wondered what the village thought of people coming in to build their homes.  The family moving into this 6x8 meter home consisted of a mother and her three children, a grandmother, and several other children.  The grandmother had recently fallen into a fire and burned her already deformed wrist nearly down to the bone.  It appeared that flies were feeding on the charcoal-like recess.  Many of us were horrified by the lack of bandages or hospitalization for this type of wound.  Further, many children had yellow eyes (a sign of malnutrition), deep chest coughs, and crusty/runny noses.  Many children had hernia-like protruding belly-buttons, a sign that they had been born at home rather than at a hospital where they professionally clamp the umbilical cords.  With inaccessible health care and HIV/AIDS, it wasn’t hard to believe that the life expectancy here hovers around the mid-thirties.  Even so, there was an eagerness to enjoy life despite its length- it could be seen in every child’s animated eyes.