25 January 2014
In an effort to help you understand new entries as this page gets longer and longer, I am providing color coding to help draw your attention to the updated information.
If words are written in green...Then this area is completed.
If words are written in purple...Then this information has not changed.
If words are written in Red......this information is new.
Here are two pictures showing the existing facilities and where the new buildings will go to give you an understand of the layout.
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| Site view showing the new building in Green |
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Finished look of phase I. GOD willing, this will be completed by the time
Jullie and I leave in July 2014. |
Bethany Kids Children's Center
We had several challenges in progress from July until October. The Contractor struggled with how to get material to site (after the landslides took out a major bridge into Kijabe) and just basic equipment failure. However, these problems were eliminated with some contractual enforcement and from October 2013, Italbuild started really working. We are still a significant amount behind schedule (in fact we were about 9 months behind schedule by about November 2013) but the new program, and earnest effort by Italbuild, we are hoping the works will be completed by June 2014. Bethany Kids is currently planning on having a grand opening in July (hopefully with us in attendance).
Instead of showing a host of pictures of progress over the last 6 months, here is a quick video to show you what has happened and where we are as of January 2014.
Here are a few pictures of the BKCC site.
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| BKCC Site as of 04 June 2013. You can see the ground floor level towards the back. The contractor should be out of the ground by the end of June, GOD willing. Then things should go much easier. |
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BKCC Site on 01 November 2013. The Ground floor is completed and now columns are going up for the first
floor structure. |
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| BKCC site on 21 December 2013. Most of the first floor slab is cast. |
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BKCC site on 21 January 2014. I am having to get far away now to take the picture since the structure
is so large. Here you can see the first floor and the structure to the roof (ring beam) going up for the
first floor . |
RVA Craft Building
Since early 2013, Jullie has been involved with the new Craft Building at Rift Valley Academy. This building will have the wood shop (and all its required saws, planers and other equipment), the pottery shop and an auto garage. She and another member of eMi, Darrell Hobbs, are overseeing the construction. Darrell is doing the on site design and oversight and Jullie is doing all the planning. Currently she is designing/refining the electrical and vacuum system in the building and ensuring that the doors are correct.
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| Excavating for the column foundations in June |
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| After foundations and column starters cast, the site is backfilled. |
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| Casting columns to the "upper ground floor" (September) |
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| Shuttering (formwork for the floor slab) being installed. December 2013. |
Upendo Village
A new project that Jullie and I were asked to get involved with is Upendo Village (Love Village). This is in Naivasha, about 40 minutes from Kijabe. It is run by the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi as an HIV/AIDS outreach. We are building an "Administration Block" to provide offices and conference space for their ministry. A different twist on this project is that the contractor who is building is great but we are having problems with the hired consultants. I won't get into details but just leave it as we need prayer on this so that we can get the consultants on board to finish this project well.
Started in July, we are expecting this to be completed by June 2014. And for the first project we have been involved in here in Kenya, we do really expect it to be completed on time. The contractor, Centurion Builders, are doing a great job and staying up with the agreed program.
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| Upendo village showing the Administrative block in the foreground. |
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| Admin block in September 2013 |
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| UV with the first floor November 2013 |
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| Upendo Village Admin block in January 2014 |
Electrical Project
The Electrical project is now complete. The underground fuel tank was finally finished while we were on furlough in the U.S. We still have to hook up a fuel pump (that is another long story). Now with the electrical department we are doing some other upgrades like a new electric supply to the laundry facility (the new machines are all electric and the old supply line was not designed for such a large electrical load). Additionally, now that we have a large UPS in operation, we are working on bringing this uninterrupted power to other areas of the hospital like the ICU, the IT Server Room, Laboratory/Pathology and Maternity.
CT Scanner Facility
The CT Scanner is fully operational and in daily use now since February 2013!!
The CT Scanner Arrived at the end of May. Through sitting in the port in Mombasa and poor roads to Kijabe. It finally arrived safely. Below is a link to a youtube video that shows the whole exciting event.
By the way, we would like to thank Jerry Caffey and Caffey Inc. http://www.caffeyinc.com for their help with the CT scanner, Tools they donated for the projects, and the shipping support of all the needed medical equipment. GOD is using their company in a mighty way to help out Kijabe Hospital.
We initially had miraculous results with Kijabe Station Management (in early 2011) agreeing to give us the land needed to install the new oxidation ponds (about 30,000 square meters). Things laid dormant for about a year and then June 2012, the Water Rights Management Authority of Kenya (WRMA) sited Kijabe Hospital for their malfunctioning sewer system and gave the hospital 30 days. Well, we already had most of the design done, so we approached the WRMA and asked for an extension. They gave us till March 2013 to fix the systems. So now the hospital has been agressively building a completely new sewer system and set of oxidation ponds. Most of the new pipeline and 127 manholes are in place (manholes take the place of bends, elbows and wyes). We are now contracting for a company to develop the approximately 200MX100M complex of oxidation ponds.
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| Hammering through rock to make a path for the new pipeline. First time in a long time that the sound of a jackhammer was heard in the city. |
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| clearing out a very nasty trench |
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| Setting a pipe |
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| Fitting two pipes together |
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| clearing a very funky piping setup for the new sewer line |
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| Looking down on a drop manhole (used to lower the angle of the downhill piping) |
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| Setting a series of manholes in the rocky area |
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| Mainline of the sewer system on 05 January. It is mostly complete. |
BrickMaking
After 18,000+ Bricks, we bid our Ndabibi Brick Making Experts goodbye. We are now using these bricks to build the MCH/CT Scanner Building. In the process of building bricks, we made a "training video" for anyone interested in how these bricks are producted. Below is the youtube link.
Stabilized Soil Brick Making
Woow! I am proud to be working in a place you have helped shape up.
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