Meeting expanding needs
We are moving forward constructing a dining room big enough to meet growing needs. This dining room will be attached to our current kitchen and can be built and paid for as funds become available.
The first step is clearing and leveling the ground, which has a minimal cost. The new building will be built much like the Sewing Center classroom, only bigger. It will measure 40 feet wide by 72 feet long.
The reason for this construction: The number of students eating lunch at our school will increase. In order to have space to social distance while eating, a larger dining room is needed. It is essential to protect our children, teachers, staff and adult students from the coronavirus.
It also will be more convenient not to carry food outside from the kitchen to the dining room as the weather can be a problem. As we prepare to build the new dining room, it is necessary to remove the unused rooms located between the kitchen and the garden so that we can connect the kitchen to the dining room.
In time, a classroom will be needed as we hope to expand adult education.Teaching traditional arts and crafts is soon to be a part of our tech training school. Our current dining room, though small for a dining room, will be a perfect classroom for teaching arts and crafts once the new dining room is complete. Traditional arts and crafts include baskets, jewelry, hand carvings and items made using available materials
This development means the garden and buildings next to the kitchen have to go.
There are changes on the farm as well.
The cowsheds at the farm are no longer needed as we have reduced the size of our herd to three cows and two babies, a boy and a girl.
We also need more space for chickens. In tearing down the buildings to make room for the dining room, we are carefully removing roofing, ventilators and especially the bricks. We are cleaning the bricks, taking them to the farm and using them to change cowsheds into a chicken house for 1,000 chickens.
The bricks are being used to enclose the ends. The workers also will use the bricks to construct a wall with windows on top of the retaining wall already in place.
This level is in front of the cowstalls.
Preparing to build a dining room and constructing the much-needed chicken house at the same time seemed to be a good way to move forward.
I believe the term is “killing two birds with one stone” or "waste not want not."
One very important thing for me is being able to keep many local neighbors earning a little income to feed their families during this pandemic. I am thanking God that Urukundo can help our neighbors and at the same time care for Urukundo. God is good.