Tahua Bolivia News 2009

September 2009:

The total damage of the toilet building is around 500 U$, including work and enforcement with heavy bricks on the metal roof. This week we are sending the new materials.

August 2009:

To all sponsors: A set back. The Bolivia Salt lake area has suffered not one but two hurricanes recently. The roof of the Boarding School resisted the first one, but before people could put any weight on the roof, the second pulled off the roof of the toilet building. We were lucky that the hurricane did not take off more than the corregated iron. The wooden and plaster construction stuck firmly in place. We will inform as soon as we know how much the damage really is. Also other villages around the Salt lake suffered a lot. The salt lake is full of material ripped from houses. 4x4 jeeps for tourists were running over rooftops on the lake. Cars and houses in this area lost a large amount of window panes

Juli 2009:

22-07-2009 Window frames are in. Doors as well. These photos are coming soon! Saludos, Sayda and Dirko

Mei 2009:

16-05-2009

Dear friends,

Just back from another trip to the construction site of the Boarding School Project in Tahua.
There has been a lot of progress!

We went with our new friend Luis; he's an electrician from Sucre and contracted to make the electrical installation of the boarding school. Also Peer, the Dutch volunteer for the plumbing job, was present for his third adventure on the job. Together we finished -in three days- the shower and toilet connections and all tubes for the electrical system!

Meanwhile Marco and his son where plastering the ceiling of the main building and next week they start to plaster the dormitories, now that all tubes are put in the walls. They already leveled the under floors in all rooms with natural stone, as you can see in the photo's.

Tomorrow the windows are arriving in Uyuni and they will be transported to Tahua this Wednesday. The doors are still a difficult issue, all carpenters are promising to quote the costs, but they never do. Tomorrow we have another carpenter that may give us a quote; I hope that this time we'll receive one. We urgently need the doors, so the plasterers can finish as soon as possible.

This week we will make the latest calculation, because we are running out of money now.

We officially asked for water and electricity connections from the local Government, till now we had temporal connections for the nearby school. We hope for a quick answer from them so we can test the installations on our next trip (when we also will put cables for electricity), probably within a month from now.

Last stage will be the cement floors and painting the inside walls, windows and doors.

After the cold season we hope to have enough money to finish the plastering and painting of the exteriors of the buildings and make the the patio floors. The good thing is that the children that need a place to stay will have their dormitory ready when the cold starts.

Keep supporting the Project, the end is near now; let's finish the job this year!

Saludos,

Sayda and Dirko

All generations came to watch us	Front supply room, next to kitchen
Helpers carving for electricity pipes at main building	Luis, Peer and Dirko, the new instalation crew!
Kitchen crew present again! Dorms are ready to be plastered
	Luis, the master electrician
Plastering the ceilings has started.	Long hours, but the views are amazing
Electricity tubes are finished, cables will come the next trip	Young visitor...
Peer in full action,... watersystem is ready to be connected.	The new assistant plumber - electrician, Dirko
Windows are made and on their way.	Luis never stops running fast!
Re-counting of the materials at stock	Instalations are finished, now we can go home