Day two

After the excitement building up over 9 months and starting the build, the second day was a slight anti-climax. That said, the building team made good progress with the inside walls and it started looking like a building with different rooms. Building the walls sounds like an easy task, one brick on top of another with some cement in between. It is however, a quite difficult task. The alignment needs to be perfect, the right amount of cement with the correct consistency must be used, it should be levelled and then it should also pass the inspection from Mr Smith…..no mean feat indeed!

More trusses were built to specification which requires continuous hammering, measuring and fitting. This team slowly progressed through the day and managed to build half of the required trusses in two day. Quite an accomplishment!

The drain was prepared fully by the end of day two which required pouring concrete on the outside of the squared surface on the bottom of a deep pit. This team then had some time to visit the children to play.

Day two ended with the most spectacular sunset over the mountains and perfect for a quick photo session. After a lovely barbeque back at the hotel, there was another meeting. The beaks thought that the boys could find another gear and Mr Smith had to communicate a few harsh but encouraging words.


Day one


Our first morning in Swaziland started with a hearty breakfast followed by a prompt departure at 8.30 to El Shaddai Orphanage. The boys wore their nicely crafted grey polo shirts and proudly advertised the Harrow School Swaziland project on their backs. Arriving at the project, the boys were quickly introduced to their skilled team leader and miraculously fell into a rhythm like an oiled machine.

Some boys mixed concrete; others dug a massive hole for the drain or built trusses for the roof. The majority, however, started building the walls of the house of which the foundations floor and first line of bricks were built before our arrival.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time and boys worked their way through a light lunch whilst appreciating the 360 degree magnificent view. The beautiful Nkomazi river in the valley below, framed by rolling mountains as back drop, is indeed a view only found in this part of the world.

Some of the boys started engaging with the toddlers for which they are building the house and one could see the beginnings of strong bonds with these orphaned children.

The first day’s end was dictated by the rapidly disappearing sun. Tools and equipment needed to be cleaned and packed away before we could even think of the hot shower awaiting us at the hotel. There was a significant change made in one day; the house was not only built knee high but all the boys blended in well with the red iron enriched soil.

Back at the hotel the boys received a well deserved dinner after a long hot shower. We decided not to have a meeting but rather have an early night for the planned 8 am start the next morning.