April 14, 2017
The power was still not back in the morning, but it was okay because today is Good Friday, so we went to church (just a block away). It was supposed to start at 9am, but we had breakfast and tea, so we didn’t get there until 10:30ish. When we went in, the service STILL hasn’t started yet!! I think it finally started around 11am which is almost 2 hours later lol.
Ps. On the plane from Amsterdam to Kenya, I sat next to a girl from Amsterdam (her name is Astrid) She warned me about “Kenya time”, where pace of life is super slow in Africa, and usually everything is delayed. Thanks to her, I am adjusting to the schedule better and not surprised. Astrid is very interesting and she had a wonderful smile. She told me she was going to Malawi for 2.5 months to do public health research. She is a master student studying International health. The last time she came to Africa was to Uganda, also for research.
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| Both the church and the water tank were built by Marera NPO |
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| The church |
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| Here is the tab |
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| This water tank was funded by rotary club. It allows anyone in the community to get free water if they need. (There is a water tab set up nearby. |
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| Here are all the NPO's past projects in panoramic view |
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| First Room |
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| Second Room |
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| Another room will be added here |
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| Exterior |
Interesting fact about putting the tiles:
The workers soak the tiles in water first like in the picture below. This is to soften the tiles so they will stick to the concrete easier(the concrete is spread on the ground, and tiles are placed on top).
To cut the tiles in different sizes, this is the tool the workers used. Basically, you first make a line (a slight crack) on the tile. Then, you push down on it to break the tile along the crack.
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| Tiles are in this tank |
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| Close-up |
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| Tile Cutter |
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| Make a line, then press down to break |
We got back home around 12:30pm, had lunch, then I started researching on how to build a jig for the circular saw. We were also considering building a jig to turn the circular saw into a table saw.
After research is done and I had my notes, it’s time to start working. The test pieces from yesterday seem to both be super strong. So, I think we will just stick with using nails rather than pocket hole + screws. Nails are much cheaper, and if outside force is applied, it will bent. Screws on the other hand, may break.
The old jig that William made was not leveled, so we glued down an extra piece to the lower side to make it even height. Another piece was added horizontally, so we can make 90 degree crosscuts.
I think the major problem we ran into is making 90 degree corners, and making completely flat/leveled planes. The fence on the planar machine was great, but it left a slight extrusion on the wood since we couldn’t push the fence all the way (so it had a small gap, where the blade can’t touch the wood, therefore that gap is not being cut)
We solved this by chiseling off this slight extrusion.
Now we are finally making 90 degree corners!! It’s a big accomplishment!
Since we had to wait for the glue to dry on the jig, we use this time to plane more 2X4. Each piece is getting better and better!
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| Putting a brick (something heavy) for the glue to dry on our new jig |
Around 7pm we had to clean up because it was getting dark. The paster and his four children came over for dinner, so we had about 10~12 people all eating together. It was fun. It was my first time having fish in Kenya, it tasted really “Tuma” (means delicious in Sawhili) William’s dad talked about how he visited Japan once in the 1980s and couldn’t get himself to eat raw fish. People here cook everything and nothing is raw.
I made a new friend today - her name is Helen, and she makes amazing Mandazi! (African donut with spice).
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| Helen cutting ugali |
I feel pretty tired, I think we worked hard today!
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