Because our mission is an outreach to the Maasai people,we wanted to live among the Maasai. We had seen where a few people had built brick houses in the area dominated by the Maasai, and thought we might be able to rent one. Through a casual connection, we were introduced to the retired Head Teacher from Maasai Girls School, who owns a vacant house in the Monduli Juu area. This is exactly where we wanted to live! We have rented this house in advance, to move in on June 1, 2016. I have included an album below; I believe you can click on the thumbnails to see a large image.
This is a lovely house, but this community has no water supply. In order to live here, we will need to build an extensive rainwater collection system. With our landlady’s permission, we hope to extend the roof to increase the area for rainwater collection, and to give us some additional covered living/visiting space. With the additional water, we will be able to use the flush toilet and shower that are already built in the house.
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- The front of the house, and porch
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- This is the house, with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom and living room.
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- This is a dining area & guest bedroom.
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- We hope to extend the roof over this area, to increase our rainwater collection capacity, and to build a kitchen. It will also make an outdoor space for entertaining guests.
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- This is between the dining area and the house. We think it would be a good place to build a kitchen.
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- We want to cover part of the parking area for rainwater collection. The water tower would likely be part of this, near the back of the house.
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- There is space for rain collection in the back.
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- This is the end of the house & driveway. As you enter the property, this is the first thing you see.
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- This wooden building is a Maasai-style kitchen: there is a fire pit in one corner, and a chimney in the opposite corner.
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- The brick building is a privy. Not the flush type.
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- A view of the garden
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- The view from our front yard
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- The view from our front yard. You can see for miles.
When we saw this house, we thought, “We could move in right away!” That’s almost true. It’s a very nice house, but without a water supply or electricity, it would be difficult to live here (that’s probably part of the reason our landlady lives elsewhere). Desert Water Agency estimates a need of 6000 gallons per month for two people.
- We must enlarge this roof to provide more rainwater catchement capability.
- We must be able to store at least 2 months supply on location (preferably 3 or more).
- Estimated cost: $20,000
- Solar Hot water system $500.00
We will also install solar panels for electricity, because the electrical system here is very undependable. It is often off for days at a time, and rarely on for more than 8 hours a day.We will have a generator as backup, so we will be living “off the grid.” However, because cell phone service (and internet capability) are almost universal in Tanzania, that’s one thing that actually works better than in Memphis.
- 5 Kv Diesel generator: $1200.00
- 10 Kv Solar System: $1200.00
Which brings us to the point: We need assistance with these costs. We’re raising money for our support, but we also need money to cover one-time costs like moving, language school and renovating our house. If you, or your church are interested in partnering with us in this work, please let us know.
We hadn’t expected to get slammed by our insurance companies, who sent a list of “fix this” demands. So at first, we were just running around fixing and not focusing.
ralphwwilliams 