Digging for Sewer Lines

A back hoe was on site Tuesday providing a trench for the waste water pipes.  North side and south side of house shown.  Walls plastered but waiting for windows.

Windows into kitchen and old house in background.

North side of house.  Windows on right look into garage.

 

Wiring

All the wiring we need.

Delivery Delays

I hope all is well with you!

Yesterday I had long and unproductive Saturday!

I got up early to do the laundry, and just as I just finished hanging the clothes up, we had a downpour.  I jumped for joy!  It rained heavily for the entire morning! 

Nkabe has a new hobby of DIY car repairs. I called her to come and give me a ride to the Internet café because I was going to type and print out the list of plumbing and cornices supplies so I can have copies to get quotes. 

I walked in the rain and I took one set to get quotations at the local Jamal hardware store. They think they can beat any quotation.  They also they promised to keep the material in their storage until it’s needed-:)

I took a taxi ride back home shortly after 1100 a.m.  It stopped raining at 11:30 and the sun dried up the rain, but the heat felt twice as hot.

I was home to get ready to wait for the delivery truck from the city Jamal hardware store.

I waited and waited, and I called them around noon to find out when they will be coming?  They told me they just finished loading up the truck and they were about to call me.

In the meantime, I had a visit with my brother-in-law Dinx (he is electrical engineer by trade). We went through the electrical supplies to make sure everything is correct.  He was pleased with the chosen electrical store. 

Then the driver called at 13:15 to report that they were leaving the city to bring material. I promised to meet them on the north by the side of the road, so I can direct them to the place where I was storing the material.

I started to walk down around 14:39 to the side of the highway to wait for them.  I waited and waited and got tired of waiting so I walked to Nkabe ‘s dress shop to wait there. After another hour and half of waiting I gave up and decided to walk back home.

Half way on my way home I received a call from the truck driver that he was just entering the village and was looking for directions, I turned back and started walking towards the road.  Unfortunately, it took them another 45 minutes to get to the North side of the village. By the time they finished unloading it was around 17:30. I felt bad for them as they still had 2 more loads to deliver.

This evening we have power but no water!!

All goes well here in TMG!

GBH

Air Photo - 2002

Look at changes in the neighbourhood in 14 years.

Air photo - 2016

Our house = red arrow; Mom's house = green arrow

Power and Windows

Thursday morning we woke to another comfortable temperature...it rained all night enough to make puddles on the back roads.

I am glad to report that the day was a bit more successful than the past 2 days. I managed to get to the Police Station first thing this morning to get both my national ID and the land lease certified.  These were required to accompany the application for supply of electricity.  My brother Sam drove me again, and we then drove to Molepolole to hand in the documents for processing.  The lady told me the process will take about 3 weeks. She promised to call me in 2 weeks to go pay the fee.

We left at 1100 a.m. to go to the city to do more running around.  Sam had to do something at the Ministry of Health, but unfortunately after 45 minutes of waiting, the fire bell went off and everybody was shooed outside.

We left to go to another building hardware supplier to pick up a quote and pay for some material.

All the 10 doors and locks have been paid for, including 2 garage doors!  

After purchasing the doors, we then went to do some banking and the had lunch at Nando’s before going back to the Ministry of Health. Sam had another hour wait, and then he was told the process will take another 30 minutes.  I asked him to drop me off at the window place and go back.   Since I already had the quote it did not take long for the process to be done.  I paid 60% of the total for the material to be ordered to make them! The 40% will be paid prior to installation.

Next week the technician will come to get the correct measurements before they start to make them.  Apparently, it may take up to 10 days for the windows to be made then they will come and install them, the builder will seal the edges.

We joined the afternoon rush hour to get back home and we stopped at Choppies hyper to get some groceries and drinks. We got home around 19:30.

Friday we meet with the builder to get the list of rhino boards and electrical accessories before heading back to the city to purchase bricks and all the electrical and plumbing stuff.

All goes well here in TMG...time to call it a night! 

Binnie 

Full Circle

Why full circle?

Well simply enough, back in January 1985 I ended up in Botswana to help assist in the opening of a new Community Junior Secondary School in the village of Makaleng.  During my two years there I met a lot of interesting people from Canada and all over the world, got to travel throughout southern Africa and meet my “partner in crime”, who was a nurse in the village.

Jumping forward to 2011, my brother Dave and his 2 kids joined Binnie, Gordon and I on a trip home to Botswana to see first-hand where Binnie hailed from. One evening, over a few beers, he planted the idea that we should built a retirement home in Thamaga, Binnie’s home town.

It has taken a few trips back to Botswana since then to make this happen but now we are into the final phase of this project as shown by the picture at the top of the blog.

Thus, Binnie arrives this morning for a 7-week visit to oversee the completion of the interior of the house.  If all goes according to plan, by the time she leaves in March, the work will be well on its way and she and the builder will have bought everything that is needed to finish the house so that it is ready for occupancy later in 2018.

With retirement looming in just over 3 months I look forward to being able to spend a part of each year in Thamaga and avoid a good chunk of the Canadian winter.

So, what follows will be a record of the process of completing the construction of our house in Thamaga, Botswana, 33 years after I first set foot in Botswana.