The School Is Almost Finished

So, we haven't been very good about keeping the posts up to date! But here is the progress of the Austin Frampton school. Once we finished with the bricks we put the timbers up for the roof.

While the guys were working on the trusses for the roof we kept working on plastering the walls. That's way fun because we just throw the cement on the wall and then smooth it out using trowels or boards. Some of the dudes are really skilled at it, they laugh at what a rookie I am.

Once the tin got here they started doing the roof. They are so protective of me they wouldn't let me get up there and work on the roof at all. That's cool because they are a lot faster at it than I would ever be.
So Malau and I kept working on the inside, plastering and painting the walls. We're not gonna completely finish painting because I want to save some for Austin to paint when he gets here in July. But it's starting to look way sweet!
Here's what it looks like from the outside with the roof on. It has two classrooms and I think it will house 80 to 100 kids. We still have some work to do on the outside, we're going to plaster the walls and paint it. We should be done in another week or so.
I know some of you are asking what I'm going to do when we finish the school. Don't worry, I still have a ton of work to do. We are going to build all the desks for the school. We are going to build a new kitchen for the KCC, the old one got destroyed in a storm last year, and we are going to start building some other schools in different villages. I will have plenty to do!

The dreads are gone!

The Progress of The Austin Frampton School

What's happening my brothas and sistas? We've been working hard here in the mother land getting some stuff done! The school is going up so fast it is killing me. Monday we finished one of the peaks where the roof will rest and then yesterday we finished the other two. Then today was fun, we started plastering the walls so you won’t see all the crappy cinderblocks and stuff. All you do is grab some concrete and throw it against the wall. Malau thinks he is such a stud when he tries to work with the actual concrete guys but really he just doesn’t know what he is doing and I die laughing every time. It is so funny when he gets excited or mad and tries to speak English cause he isn’t fluent enough to really know what he is saying so his mouth just opens way wide and he just goes “uhhhhh” and his eyes go all big and he can’t find any words and it kills me every time. Then sometimes he will talk to me in Duruma thinking I will respond and then he will just bust up laughing cause he forgets. We had some fun putting up the peaks on the school and then plastering the walls.
I can't believe how much more finished it looks when we get the plastering done. These concrete guys are really good and really fast. Madzo and I are just trying to keep up!


We finished some of the plastering early today, so baba Chengo and I cruised down to Ghandini to grab some coconuts and break in my new machete, which is way dope by the way. We got down there and I saw this coconut tree that I wanted to climb and so I asked him if I could climb it and he started saying no and listing all these reasons why I couldn't. I'm like "Dude, relax" and I started cruising up that thing and he was yelling at me the whole way, and I just laughed. I think he finally realized I wasn’t some white boy wuss who doesn’t know how to do anything cause he stopped yelling and started laughing haha. Then we grabbed a buncha coconuts and skinned them like we had been doing it for years and sat back against a banana tree and just killed it for an hour or so. I am honestly making a summer home in Ghandini, that forest is the most unreal place on this earth.

My Kenyan Brothers - New Pictures

Several of you have asked for pictures of the people that I'm always talking about so here you go:

Anthony, the local head of Koins for Kenya. He is everybody's boss and when he talks they jump! He is the biggest stud in Kenya, he works his butt off and knows everything that is going on within 100 kilometers of here. He has me securely under his wing and it's his personal mission to make sure I get out of here alive.

This is Malau, he is so laid back and dope it is awesome. He's living with me in the other room in the hut. Notice the bunk beds, they are so if there are other Koins people in Dzivani they'll have a place to sleep. Malau is my companion and protector! I love the dude


This is Madzo, he's the foreman, supervisor, all around stud of the Austin Frampton school. He doesn't take any crap from anybody! He speaks about 5 words of English but when he talks to the crew they understand exactly what he is saying!This is Buffalo, the largest Kenyan I have ever seen. He is buttery and sweet and I love the guy! His daughter is way hot and Anthony always jokes with him that I need to take her out and it freaks Buffalo out. Anthony is going to give him a heart attack!
From the left, Mondero who is the head of the workshop in Mnyenzeni; me (in case you couldn't pick me out); Malau my roomie; Matano who is the tractor driver for Koins, he giggles everytime I see him, I get stoked just to be with him. The last two are two 19 year olds that are both married and have kids, I can't remember their names, but crazy that they are my age and married with kids!

This is the river we have to cross to get from Mnyenzeni to Dzivani. When it's not raining it's a dry road, when it rains you have to cross early or you don't cross at all. During the rainy season it becomes impassable for weeks at a time.

And one last picture, here's the progress of the Austin school, cinder block walls are going up. We're ahead of schedule! (Really there's no schedule I just like saying that!)

April 17, 2010

Even though it rained like crazy in Mnyenzeni, it stayed dry enough in Dzivani that we poured the concrete slab, let it dry and cure for a day, and now we are starting on the walls. Madzo, the foreman is such a stud. He just works his butt off!

These people really are the greatest people in the world, their spirit is rock solid and they honestly have everything. Once I got unpacked and everything a quote from Fightclub popped in my mind.. It's the part when Brad Pitt and that other dude are up in the bathroom and he can’t figure out why Brad Pitt lives in such a crap hole. All Brad Pitt says is “ once you have nothing, you realize you have everything” and that really is how I feel along with my Kenyan brothers. They are living in mud houses all over this country and more durumas live all over africa in this same way, but they don’t even care. They have three shirts to their name and probably 300 schillings in their wallet but they are so happy and they would do anything for you. I really do envy these people and this lifestyle is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I really am so stoked on everything in Dzivani, the school is going up strong and tomorrow the Dzivani soccer team goes up against the Mnyenzeni team so its gonna be huge! It's the semi finals so hopefully my boys can pull it out. Buffalo is rooting for the Mnyenzeni team cause his son is on the team so its gonna be intense! I am stoked, Madzo, me, and the crew are working til about 1 and then we are all going together in the Koins tractor trailer thing to the game along with the team. Such a team van huh? any way, i am stoked for the weekend and hope you guys are too...

Moving Day!

I am moved in people! and I wish I could have all of you here to give you a personal tour because this hut is the biggest, baddest piece of estate any dude would ask for, honestly. The set up could not be better, I walk out on my porch and look straight into Mombasa harbor and my roof is made of palm leaves instead of tin so it keeps it sooo perfect on temp during all hours of the day. Honestly there is not one thing I would change about it. I am laying in my hammock right now which is easily the most comfortable bed I have ever laid in, beats any queen size or king size whatever for only 60 bones. You really could see my hut in a movie or something, I really can’t believe I am actually the one living here it just blows my mind. I just showered on my back porch and just stared at the stars the whole time, they are so thick here it is crazy! Plus no one has lights around here and it is winter for them, so the sun sets at like 7 and so people just end up going to sleep so I have my own personal shower spot on a rock in my back yard with a view that most people would pay hundreds to see. It is just crazy how much these people will do for an outsider, this hut could be anyone's but they chose for this particular spot to be mine and Malau’s, it really has the best view out of the whole village.

My hammock is the envy of the village!

Here's my room with all the possessions I own in Kenya!

April 14, 2010 Dzivani, Kenya

Whats up my homies! This week has been cruising by so quick it blows my mind! I don’t really remember when I wrote you last, but I will try and bring you up on the haps in the mother land. So yesterday we laid all the stones in the flooring up both class rooms in the Austin school and then poured water in through the cracks and then we all went through with a sledge hammer and slammed everything down nice and hard because Madzo says that’s the strongest way to do it, and no one in the right mind questions Madzo, he is gnarly. He looks like a boxer who could just kill a whole crew if he had to, but he is so tight. That took almost all day because we had to load up all the rocks from this rock pile that’s probably 300 yards away and then bring them over to the site in wheel barrels. It is crazy how much we take for granted in the US and how much it makes things so much easier for us cause we could have had both those rooms done in like twenty minutes with just one dump from a truck from geneva rock or something but these people have nothing! They have to go to the riverbank to get the rocks for the flooring themselves and bring them to the village. There is no such thing as anything but your own back and arms to get things done, no engines, no trucks, no electricity, just everything by hand. These people are truly amazing, they have it down too, their tools are straight from the stone age but they are genius. The walls are perfectly straight on the Austin school and they don’t even know what a level or a construction square is. It blows my mind every day I get to the site, Kenyans are amazing!

So Chakaya and I got over there at like ten when we realized Dzivani was not happenin and got to work on desks. It is fun work, but the grinder is sooo loud and makes my brain feels like it is gonna run out my nostrils so I made some make shift ear plugs out of paper towels and it worked like a charm. Between grinding and painting that’s pretty much what I do whenever I go over there, but we need to start getting started on the desks for the Austin school, we need 40 total for there, twenty each room. Those are the easier ones to make because they are wooden and don’t have to be welded or anything. After the Austin school is done, Madzo and I and his crew are cruising over to Miguneni to start on the primary school one family is sponsoring that I think is coming in july with you guys.

But any way, then me and Malau went down to see how my house is coming and they had one side of the roof completely done with just three others to do. We thought for sure we would be able to move in on Thursday, but it probably won’t happen now because it rained alllllll day today and it truly just poured. When it rains here it is like the biggest crazy mess but it is sooo tight cause it is warm rain and I just go and run in it and all the kids just laugh at me haha but I love it. It just sucks cause we couldn’t get to Dzivani today because of the rain. The river was a raging crazy fest and the roads were messier than anything you have ever seen so when that happens, the wood shop is my work of choice.

Thanks again to you everyone who is doing the blog and reading the blog, hopefully you are getting some good readers and hopefully the pics are ok. I would be in more of them except trying to teach a Kenyan how to use a camera is like teaching a dog to read and write, technology is not their strong point ha but I am working with Chakaya and Malau and they are slowly catching on. Any way I love all you guys and these people are the greatest! Keep on killin it and lovin it and keep doin what you all do.