Yes, the youths of the House of Winners Worship Center - Ogalo (Mumias) Kenya had a "mud day". Just what is a mud day, you ask? Well, a mud day involves digging up the top surface of the earth, adding some water, making large mud balls, and then applying them to the outside and inside structure of a building to enclose it.
Many people in Kenya and Uganda Africa live in houses they make themselves, or at least aide in building them. They create the main structure and roof supports using eucalyptus poles and then add a roof. The roof can be either a thatched roof made from speargrass or banana leaves or can be made using ironsheets (metal). Once it's completed to the stage where it's under-roof, the walls must be made solid. To create solid walls, they add mud to the inside and outside walls, filling in the gaps between the woven eucalyptus branches. Once the mud walls are cured, the house can be made to look like concrete by mixing cow dung and dirt. This mixture is then spread over the top surface of the dried mud. This makes the surface smooth and helps preserve the walls from external elements, such as wind and rain. The floor in these houses can be dirt or concrete. The climate there is temperate year-round, so there's really no need for heat or air conditioning, making these houses the perfect low-cost home. In fact, even with an ironsheet roof and paid labor, these houses can be built for less than a thousand dollars and within just a few days.
In the pictures below, you will see a house that a "good Samaritan" person built for a woman and her two children. The issue was, they stopped at the mudding stage. That's when our youth decided to do the mudding for her. They had a great time under the supervision of Pastor Athanus Atimbo, WYM Vice President - Africa. Our youth are tomorrow's leaders and I'm so happy to see them taking a part in building their community.
Houses are not the only buildings using the eucalyptus pole and mud method, however, for a more permanent structure, it is best to use brick. Eucalyptus poles are susceptible to being destroyed by insects over time, mainly termites, and when that happens, it has to be rebuilt.
Just as the mud is used to make walls, it is also used to make brick. Bricks are made by using mud which is shaped by placing it into a rectangular form. Once formed and dried, the bricks are cured in an earthen kiln. To make the kiln, the bricks are stacked in a particular pattern and then the outside is packed with earth. At the very bottom of the kiln there are open channels into which wood is placed and set on fire, non-stop, for several days. The fire cures the brick and then it can be used to build structures. The pictures below are of the 23000 bricks made by the members of our church plant in Mayuge Uganda. These will be used to build the church building, which is currently built with eucalyptus poles, a banana leaf roof, and open sides. They are very excited to get this project underway. WYM supplied the firewood, which is quite expensive there and the firing process requires a lot of it.
We also have some praise reports. In the last blog I had everyone pray that we would get a building for WYM Headquarters and WYM weConnect Resource Center and Thrift Mart. Well, the Lord has answered!!!! Wallberg Contruction has donated building space for us to use at 133 Town Square in Glade Spring, Virginia. The Thrift Mart is now open on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The space needs a lot of renovation and will take some time to be fully utilized. Below are a couple pics. Once we get it going, I'll update with more.
A second praise report!!! We received enough funds to build a temporary building for our church plant in Namayingo Uganda, where Pastor Kalvon Onyango is pastor. He is Wholly Yours Ministries Logistics Coordinator - Africa. Again, I asked you all to pray and the Lord answered our prayers!!! The church building is now built, and the electricity has been installed. We're just waiting for the electric company to do the final hook-up. The next step is to get sound equipment and instruments. We serve an awesome God who answers prayers!
I have yet a third praise report! In the last blog I asked for help building a website for WYM weCONNECT. Well, no one came forward to help, but the Lord gave me motivation and energy and I was able to create a website and publish it myself. The website address is wym-weconnect.com. I also created a separate FB page for WYM weCONNECT so please follow us on there. The name of the FB page is WYM Weconnect. FB wouldn't let me call it WYM weCONNECT because they said it was incorrect grammar. I told them it was a name, not a sentence, to no avail.
Our education and feeding programs are moving ahead and there are still four college age students who need sponsors. We're now feeding twenty children a school lunch each day at a local school. The cost is around seventy-five cents per day, or fifteen dollars a month, per student. The children are very appreciative. In fact, one child made the comment that they were glad school started back so they could have a good meal each day.
Everything we do takes money and we're entirely dependent upon the Lord to provide. He normally does this through the donations of people like you. Please consider partnering with us in this endeavor. We also want to thank all those who currently contribute or have contributed to us in the past. Also, we're very excited that four of us are going to Kenya and Uganda for most of the month of August. We never use ministry donations for travel purposes, unless given specifically for that. If you donate toward our trip, please specify it is to be used for that purpose and, of course we would greatly appreciate any donation toward that.
God bless each one of you for your prayers and financial support. Together we can achieve much for the kingdom of God on earth. You can give through our website, wholly-yours.com, through our PayPal account (whollyoursministries@gmail.com), through our CashApp account ($WYM59), or through the mail to Wholly Yours Ministries 483 Oak Hill St. NE, Abingdon, Va. 24210. You can also give through direct deposit into our WYM bank account and other ways that suits you best. Just let us know your preference and we will accommodate.
Wholly Yours in Christ
Rev. Paul Havens
Wholly Yours Ministries
Founder and President
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