There’s always work to be done. Because there wasn’t much for us at the school site a group of us went to a house of a parishioner that was in disrepair. We wanted to paint it, fix it up and make it look like something other than a slum. The major problem was the walls had previously been painted with oil based paint. Therefore, we had to use oil based enamel to cover the walls and trim. Oil based enamel is a very difficult paint to work with as it is thick, smelly and difficult to clean up. Still we attacked the project an made the house a lot more presentable. I worked half the day and did not enjoy the project. My clothes, gloves, shoes and backpack were getting enamel all over them. The rooms were crowded with furniture and other stuff and there were too many people trying to work in too small a space.
Around noon we went back to the school site for lunch. I caught a break. Mike decided to send me out with a couple of others to procure material for the house. The shopping list included a new toilet, a new sink, plumbing supplies and new doors. We rode around to various vendor to try to get the best prices. As with a lot of developing countries, prices can be very negotiable. I tried to use the techniques that I’ve seen Mike use and did actually negotiate some good deals. Fix It Friends tries it’s best to be efficient and effective. The less money we spend on materials, the more money we can leave with the project to further move it ahead.
I got into the car of the man that was driving us. He had the local paper in the front seat. Here’s a picture of the front page. Read the headline in green.
Eritrea looks to be an interesting place.
A market area in Lusaka where we purchased some supplies. It is the rainy season.
The new Builder’s Warehouse. It is as nice, bright and clean as any Home Depot or Lowe’s. We bought a toilet and sink along with a few miscellaneous items. The prices are low and it has the smaller merchants scared.
This afternoon the skies opened up. It created a muddy mess on the back roads and at the job site. We decided to cut the work day short and headed back to the hotel for some downtime.
This evening we went to a restaurant that is rated one of the best in Lusaka by trip advisor.
There were some rather exotic items on the menu.