Trying to build a house....

I'm in the process of building my own house in Karamoja. And it is a process. The women are helping me a lot but they are also building their own houses so I need to do much of my own work. Here are a bunch of pictures of the process.

The first step is to build a shade house. This is a very temporary structure so you have some where to escape the heat of the sun and somewhere to cook out of the wind. At this point this is all I have. 

Then you make your "permanent" house. After cutting all your poles and gathering your wood you have to prepare the ground and dig holes. 

Then the poles get set. 

Then the cross pieces get tied on. 

Then roof poles need to be attached to each other. 

Then after 10 people lift the whole thing up and set it in place more cross pieces get tied on and it gets attached to the walls. 

These 6 pictures sum up nearly a month's worth of work. There are no nails, no power tools. Practically no tools at all actually. Machetes, axes and hoes. That is it.

We also have to build fences. Hours and hours of building fences....
This is also one other project I helped with. I actually really liked this one because I got to prove I'm not completely incompetent. After spending three days proving that I'm not very good at tying sticks together with other sticks they told me to do the cutting. And I know how to use an ax! They were all actually a little impressed.

It is a granary to store seeds up off the ground so they don't get wet and spoil.  

I’m headed up again today. Please pray for me!

• For increased love for the Karajomjung and to see them as God sees them.
• For conversations to share Truth, hope, joy and peace.
• For wisdom and generosity as I interact and to help them in the best way possible.