Lessons in Construction...Liberian Style

Plumbers, masons, carpenters and everyone in between have a hand at making our place a home. It has been a long road to get to this point in the house renovations. It's not to be taken lightly by any means. Without Home Depot every project gets to looking a little more scary. However, the experts are the men themselves who have learned their trades well. They know how to do plumbing...

They know how to adapt and adjust where some of us would just give up. It has been fun to have these men work on our house, and see how they "get 'er done".

The windows frames were cemented into place...

then the security bars were cut from 3/4" galvanized steel pipe. They were then put between "iron wood" as they call it here, and cemented into place. A task that takes lots of braun... and a good eye to be sure every bar is level.

Oh did I forget to mention, that first you need to chip out the space to put the bars in first? Look closer at the man working here. That's where the braun comes in. These old houses at ELWA were built to last an eternity...not really, but the origional bricks that were used were almost solid cement. And it takes a long time to chisel a hole to put the new security bars in. My hats off to the origional builders of these homes.

5 of the 9 windows were completed today as the sun was setting. I am thankful for workers who go the extra mile to help us get moved in soon.

The view from our front porch is a blessing from the Lord. We look forward to spending many more evenings watching the sun go down out here. This is one of our favorite pass times; watching people, enjoying the culture and greeting folks as they pass by. Drinking in the sights, sounds and flavors of our new home at ELWA. Thank you for sending us here, keeping us here, and praying for us here.