I believe that the rains have begun here. Yesterday afternoon we had a strong thunderstorm, and Mutala may have got the worst of it. We had just received the email from Shepherd about the money spent on the school at Mutala, and then the storm took more than half the roof off their school. It also damaged one teacher's roof and others in the Mutala community. We went out to see the damage about 17:00. I believe that they may have had a small tornado, even though the people here do not seem to be familar with tornadoes.
In Saskatchewan, our tornadoes are associated with thunderstorms, strong winds, and often hail, and that is what they experienced here. The head-teacher said that they had rain and hail, and that the ground was completely white. She said that the winds were swirling in all directions and then the roof flew off the school. The roof flew about sixty metres and got hung up in a mango tree. Even the trusses from the middle section of the school were torn off and damaged. They had to pull iron sheets and pieces of wood down out of the mango tree. I am sure that the roof would have flown farther if it had not hit the tree. Luckily none of the children or teachers in the school were injured.
Smart happened to be home from his school in Livingstone. He said that everyone in the community was frightened and ran for their homes. He said that they had not experienced anything like this before. Anyway, Smart spent the afternoon repairing part of the remaining school roof, repairing the teacher's damaged roof, helping other community people with their damaged roofs, and salvaging the materials from the mango tree.
Then last night we had another strong thunderstorm and the head-teachers' roof was completely torn off her house. Everything she owned was soaked. She spent the evening at Wilson's home. Anyway, before I arrived there this morning, the community had most of her roof back on the house.
So... what do we do to help out? The community has already sorted through the salvaged materials to see what can be used. They are preparing a list of materials that they will need to put the roof back on the school. I told them that I would write to ZMF-C to see how we could help them out with this difficult situation. I have not promised them anything, but I think that we should be able to partner with them in some way to put the roof back on the school. This morning I also received news that one of the teacher's houses at Katungu had lost its roof last night. Mr. and Mrs. Symia spent a good portion of last night in the school and tonight will take shelter in the unfinished duplex. Their house is one of the very small houses at Katungu. They have salvaged the iron sheets, but the timbers need replacing. I have purchased five timbers for the house at a cost of K140,000, and I have suggested that the community needs to be thinking about how to finance the repairs. I have some wood perservative and some roofing nails left over from another job. They will also need some tie wire and a little cement.
This situation makes it very clear to me that any construction that we do, as ZMF-C, must be done very well. We need to insure that we use only quality materials and that we hire good builders. I am afraid that if we take short-cuts to save money, that it will end up costing more in the end. I am not saying that we have taken short-cuts in the past, I am just saying that we need to be sure that our construction is done with quality.
And now I need to run to transport the head-teacher back to Mutala from Wilson's home. It is now 16:05 and soon it will be dark.
Smart happened to be home from his school in Livingstone. He said that everyone in the community was frightened and ran for their homes. He said that they had not experienced anything like this before. Anyway, Smart spent the afternoon repairing part of the remaining school roof, repairing the teacher's damaged roof, helping other community people with their damaged roofs, and salvaging the materials from the mango tree.
Then last night we had another strong thunderstorm and the head-teachers' roof was completely torn off her house. Everything she owned was soaked. She spent the evening at Wilson's home. Anyway, before I arrived there this morning, the community had most of her roof back on the house.
So... what do we do to help out? The community has already sorted through the salvaged materials to see what can be used. They are preparing a list of materials that they will need to put the roof back on the school. I told them that I would write to ZMF-C to see how we could help them out with this difficult situation. I have not promised them anything, but I think that we should be able to partner with them in some way to put the roof back on the school. This morning I also received news that one of the teacher's houses at Katungu had lost its roof last night. Mr. and Mrs. Symia spent a good portion of last night in the school and tonight will take shelter in the unfinished duplex. Their house is one of the very small houses at Katungu. They have salvaged the iron sheets, but the timbers need replacing. I have purchased five timbers for the house at a cost of K140,000, and I have suggested that the community needs to be thinking about how to finance the repairs. I have some wood perservative and some roofing nails left over from another job. They will also need some tie wire and a little cement.
This situation makes it very clear to me that any construction that we do, as ZMF-C, must be done very well. We need to insure that we use only quality materials and that we hire good builders. I am afraid that if we take short-cuts to save money, that it will end up costing more in the end. I am not saying that we have taken short-cuts in the past, I am just saying that we need to be sure that our construction is done with quality.
And now I need to run to transport the head-teacher back to Mutala from Wilson's home. It is now 16:05 and soon it will be dark.
No comments:
Post a Comment