Our trip in Zambia: Habitat for Humanity Chipulukusu township

Hello dear Family and Friends

We came back this wednesday from our magic trip in Zambia and we thought you would be happy to have some updates on how it went and how the houses look like :)

We arrived in Chipulukusu township (in the north of the country not far from Ndola city) after 18 hours of travel, 2 stopovers in Francfort, Johannesburg and 6 more hours of bus.
We arrived at night and discovered with our flashlights where we will be staying for the next days.
Below some pictures taken the next morning

Our outdoor bathroom

Our honeymoon suite!

We met great people coming from the US and Japan and we shared this house with 8 of them.

Kids going to school (in uniform) vs the others unable to go only 40% of the kids in the slum go to school

Playing with the kids

Now it's time to start building. The houses are a very simple rectangular shape with three rooms. They are made of concrete bricks with mortar (there's no cement) we sweat like crazy to make it (you have to mix for long minutes the right amount of water, sand and mud floor and under 35 degrees I can tell you it's a real challenge!) After a few days sleeping on the floor our back was simply hating us!

After two days...

Pierre-Olivier was always trying to catch a bit of rest during our breaks for lunch and most of the time was feeling even more tired afterwards ;))

The children loved to play and they were so intrigued by us. After holding our hands during long walks in the slum, they would smell their hands and compare the smell of their hands to one another. We have a very strange smell for them! and of course on top of it, we were really dirty, having no water to shower, we had everyday one bucket of water to share with the whole team so I let you imagine after 6 hours of hardwork under the sun how it looks like! The first two days are hard, the third day this bucket feels like paradise!!

It was one of the few times Hanseen could see himself in a mirror :) makes it difficult for our friend Tarek to shave!

Some people of our team. They were just a great bunch of wonderful guys. We spent entire evening talking, sharing stories, laughing to tears and playing endless crazy game of carts!!

Let me introduce you to the beneficiaries of the project Loti and Gertrude:

Loti was born in 1937, he never went to school. His wife Felistus suffers from blindness. The couple lost six children and they now look after their orphaned grandchildren. The home they occupy since 1968 is made of mud and has no window openings nor ventilation to provide privacy and security. The house is on the verge to collapse because of the heavy rains during the rainy season. They have no income and receive one meal per day from the Samaritan Strategy a local partner with Habitat for Humanity.

Gertrude was born in 1989. She is a widow and a mother of four. Her children Rhoda, Letson, Ngoma and Kayombo are age 13, 10, 7 and 6 respectively. She is also looking after her brother Mwape and a nephew named Frank. She has never been to school and she earns her living through doing domestic work, she is paid 30 Zambian Kwatcha (5 USD) for each family that employs her.

We continue building and every day it's great to see the progress made

Almost finished and yes we are proud!!

One of our wonderful chief on the building site, he wanted to learn how to say I love you in French ;)

The last day was a great party in the community when we handed over the keys to Loti and Gertrude. Loti shaved himself and a neighbor gave him the shirt he wears on the picture, he wanted to look presentable for us. He cried and I can tell you it was hard for all of us to keep our tears!