Teaching Trip to Africa

When a tree with a broad enough trunk dies, it is often hand-sawn into boards.
	Recently bath stalls were built behind student dormitories.
Brick is being made on the mission for the construction of a new, larger church building. Usually the best clay for bricks is found around the base of a termite hill. Brick making was one of my first tasks as a new missionary in Malawi and I knew nothing about it. Catholic missionaries in the area provided information on making brick molds and hiring a brick maker and crew.
	The sun-dried bricks are stacked into a kiln shape with tunnels underneath for firewood. The kiln is plastered with mud, the fire is lit, and the fire is fed for up to a week until all the bricks have been fired.
Water for the mission houses comes from this well and storage system. Another well serves the maternity clinic and staff houses.
	These are some of the student dormitories with a kitchen at the left. The dorms have been upgraded; when we first built them they had grass thatch roofs.
This large garage shelters the various mission vehicles. The large truck is used especially to haul grain during hunger relief operations.
	A back view of the missionary residences with various outbuildings. One houses an ancient diesel generator which is useful during power outages.