At the start of December
building commenced on a house for Auntie Peace funded by Richard Symonds.
Auntie Peace works at Sonrise baby home where she lives with the children and
works with them 24 hours a day seven days a week. She is a very loving and
special lady who, as a refugee from the Rwandan Genocide has no family support
group within the country as is common in Uganda leaving here somewhat isolated
as the years pass, Richard therefore decided to raise money in order to build
her a place of her own in her adopted country.
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| House Before Work Commenced |
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| Old Kitchen |
The building chosen as Peace’s house was originally a building that was
a home and a shop; incredibly basic and somewhat dilapidated with a make shift
kitchen and latrine. HYT employed 6 workers who lived on site during the
project. We started by renovating the main building with the aim of making it
into a home; we added windows and metal doors, a roof, a veranda and front
steps. Progress became clear after only a short while, and it wasn’t long
before it started to look like a proper house.
After the main work on the house has been completed work began on the
new kitchen and latrine behind the house. The previous kitchen and latrine were
made of mud and wood. It was only small
as it would only be used by one person but just as necessary. By mid January when Josh and I arrived, most
of the building work had been completed and HYT were completing the more
detailed finishing touches.
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| New Latrine, Pathway & Chicken Coop |
By
February the buildings were complete and finishing touches such as a chicken
coup and the paths between the various buildings were being completed. The
workers having finished the construction work left the site on the 8th
of February leaving Josh and I to paint the inside of the house. After 3 days
of hard work the house is now ready to furnish, and we left feeling pleased
that we were able to contribute to the house of such a deserving woman. We have
grown to know Peace quite well through our regular trips to Sonrise baby home,
and even though it was just a small thing it still feels incredibly rewarding.
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| The Finishing Touches of Painting |
Just to add a twist to this story, all of
the fundraising, construction and other work has been done without the
knowledge of Auntie Peace, and the first that she will know of the existence of
this house is when she is handed the keys in a few weeks time. She will
continue her fantastic work at Sonrise for years to come however as the Aunt in
charge of the youngest at Sonrise 24/7 care can be tiring and for a woman
reaching her 60’s not exactly relaxing, we hope that this house will enable her
to get some respite from what is a tough job.
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| New Kitchen with ISSB Bricks |
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| Building Work Complete |
