We first met Amos (16) when he came to our door last year selling vegetables to make money for his family. After getting to know him and the story of his difficult life (his father has died and his mother has a hard time making ends meet with her 4 young kids, one of which is severely handicapped) a few missionary families decided we needed to come along side and help out in a productive manner. (See the post Cultural Lessons for more details on this story.) Through a coordinated effort between the Tenwek Hospital social workers, a community of amazing local Kenyan women in a Bible study called "Tabitha ministry," and several missionary families, we were able to get a wheelchair for the handicapped son, help the mom start a small business selling maize, and build two small houses. The houses are important to meet their needs, as culturally Amos isn't allowed to live in his mom's house once he is a teenager (he had been renting a room in the back of a shop), and Amos's mom and siblings would cook and sleep in the same room/house. Imagine making a campfire in the middle of your living room to cook on, and then breathing the smoke all night as you slept.
Well, this weekend we had the opportunity to help build one of the houses, and dedicate the other. Here is where the story gets fun. The simplest, cheapest house in rural Kenya is made of a wood frame, iron sheets as a roof, and for the walls.....mud. Lots of mud. The traditional way to "mud a house" is to get all your friends over (usually the women) and go to town. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is our mud adventure in 23,000 words.
Here is the wood frame and "iron sheet" (I think it is more like tin) house as we were getting started. As you can see in the background, a rain storm was coming...which is actually good, because that means that you have to carry less water from the river to make the mud.
Here is Amos with Erin and our friend/neighbor Ashleigh
First you have to make the mud. Ingredients: dirt and water. Hoe up the dirt, add water and mix.
Here is Adison, helping to make some mud.
Next step is to mix the mud with your feet. This was Alex's dream job. I think he'll be a professional mud mixer when he is older.
This is pretty much what he looks like everyday, even when not mudding a house.
Once the mud is the perfect consistency, you make a mud ball and shove it into the wood frame. This amazing Kipsigi lady was the "foreman" of the worksite and every time I would ask if the mud was ready she would say "Not Ready!!" I think the only English words she knew were "Not Ready!!"
We kept wondering what else might be in the mud besides dirt and water.
Erin and veteran mudder Jenny Roberts building the south wall.
Making progress!
Almost done!
The Kipsigis men don't usually help the women do the mudding. They just came to see the circus of wazungu (white folks) help build a house. I thought for sure they viewed us white men as crazy, but afterword they came up to me and said we were a blessing and an encouragement.
Once the walls were filled with mud, step two was to throw mud at the walls to fill in the holes and gaps. Can you tell this was our favorite part!!
Cole and Nate liked to throw the mud at each other more than throw it at the house.
Tucker was cold and wet, but was a hit with the ladies. Poor Cooper was nowhere to be found. He wanted nothing to do with being cold, wet and dirty.
The finished product of our labor. Two hours of fun, dirty, hard labor. Awesome teamwork between missionaries and the village ladies. Once the mud dries (in a week or so) a second layer will be added, then a third, to give a smooth sophisticated look to the exterior. Ironically, it ends up being the same color as our old living room back home. We were made for mud.
What a crew.
Cute kids who came out to watch the spectacle.
Once we finished mudding, we dedicated the other house (mudded a few weeks ago) and cut the string, signifying that the family could move in.
Amos's mom, Gladys, was very thankful and had a wonderful day. It was great to see the local church, come around her and care for this delightful widow.
We were all invited in for Chai. The floor will remain dirt, until Gladys can save enough for "home improvements." Not sure why the boys got half naked. The locals had never seen so much white.
More mud. This time it was on the way home. Our vehicle slid off the road and got stuck (I wasn't driving :)
This guy with a tractor and trailer tried to pull us out, but he too got stuck.
Eventually we utilized the winch and pulled out the vehicle, in front of a crowd of witnesses. We had a great day, and despite several showers, still have mud in various places.
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