02-05-2008, 03:52 PM
I held a small "dinner party" last night on the cement floor of my little cabin. In attendance were the extended Dong family, the contractor I have found, an English teacher from the highschool as interpreter and a whole bunch of children that came to "taste the farang (foreigner) food". Turns out they love penne pasta with red sauce!
With the interpreter, we marched over to the house project and measured and paced and talked. Here is the result, confirmed over dinner:
The contractor will reeive 300 bhat a day for his work (that is about $9). Eight men from the community have already come forward to work as helpers/laborers for free to help with our project. Contractor estimates 5 to 7 days to completion!
Turns out that since I brought all this up, many have been gathering "extra" supplies to donate. We have floor joists, posts, roofing materials and a little other stuff.
We will buy for $300 the teak for the actual floor (teak is the only building wood available here). We are getting a price on a synthetic composite product for the walls. The English teacher/interpreter has an extra job at the school; she is in charge of inventory of all supplies and materials, and they just built a dormatory of this material. It is half the price of wood, easy to work with according to the builder and available within about a week. Teacher will send home specifics tonight on supplier and exact price. If he does not give us the same price she thinks she can order it for us through the school. I met the director there yesterday and he told her he approved of her cooperating with the "educated falang". LOL
So we will have a wall price by tomorrow. We buy cement but people are gathering sand and stone by the bucket and dumping it at the site so that will be cheap. Then we need maybe 50 or so hollow tiles for the base and then walls for the kitchen. One man goes to Chiang Mai a couple times a month in his truck (one of 4 in the village) and has offered to haul back any supplies. They are much cheaper there. If we have any money left over we will be putting up interior walls and kitchen counters and a set of shelves. Windws here are about 3 to 5 dollars each (shudder style) and I am sure there will be hardware costs for hinges. Still it is simple and doable with our budget. I got another $200 donation today. I will tell you of the whole budget and income when I get it all written down but this lets you know where we are.
WE will wait buying the animals Nate is providing until the structure is built and then build pens, etc, for them. This keeps the house prject from raiding any wood or supplies from the sustainable project.
I am guessing around $1200 for the whole house. It is very doable. We must remember that this is NOt 1968 and world economy for fuel and nails and saws and such do apply.
Dad not only agreed to the terms of working for us for 2 days a week for one year to "earn" his house, he asked if one year was enough. It seemed very small to him. We don't know how long it will last but so far, for three days he is on board. Do NOT get frustrated when he falls back to the bottle, becuase most likely he will. Sobriety does not come easily.
I have further told the family that I am returning in July (to complete my dental project... I want teeth!!). They understand that IF Dad does the work he has agreed to do, if they develop all the rest of the garden for veggies, if they care for the animals properly, then I will also put running water into the kitchen and electricity into the house. They currently have a single line and two fluorescent lights, one of which actually works. This is run from "my" cabin and paid for by Anton, the British man who's houses I am using here in the village and in Chiang Mai. We will set up their own breaker box and wire every room, etc... I priced out materials and it will cost about $100. Amazing what is so unavailable here and what is so very cheap.
Okay that is the update. I will keep you posted.
Mahalo, Pam
Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!
With the interpreter, we marched over to the house project and measured and paced and talked. Here is the result, confirmed over dinner:
The contractor will reeive 300 bhat a day for his work (that is about $9). Eight men from the community have already come forward to work as helpers/laborers for free to help with our project. Contractor estimates 5 to 7 days to completion!
Turns out that since I brought all this up, many have been gathering "extra" supplies to donate. We have floor joists, posts, roofing materials and a little other stuff.
We will buy for $300 the teak for the actual floor (teak is the only building wood available here). We are getting a price on a synthetic composite product for the walls. The English teacher/interpreter has an extra job at the school; she is in charge of inventory of all supplies and materials, and they just built a dormatory of this material. It is half the price of wood, easy to work with according to the builder and available within about a week. Teacher will send home specifics tonight on supplier and exact price. If he does not give us the same price she thinks she can order it for us through the school. I met the director there yesterday and he told her he approved of her cooperating with the "educated falang". LOL
So we will have a wall price by tomorrow. We buy cement but people are gathering sand and stone by the bucket and dumping it at the site so that will be cheap. Then we need maybe 50 or so hollow tiles for the base and then walls for the kitchen. One man goes to Chiang Mai a couple times a month in his truck (one of 4 in the village) and has offered to haul back any supplies. They are much cheaper there. If we have any money left over we will be putting up interior walls and kitchen counters and a set of shelves. Windws here are about 3 to 5 dollars each (shudder style) and I am sure there will be hardware costs for hinges. Still it is simple and doable with our budget. I got another $200 donation today. I will tell you of the whole budget and income when I get it all written down but this lets you know where we are.
WE will wait buying the animals Nate is providing until the structure is built and then build pens, etc, for them. This keeps the house prject from raiding any wood or supplies from the sustainable project.
I am guessing around $1200 for the whole house. It is very doable. We must remember that this is NOt 1968 and world economy for fuel and nails and saws and such do apply.
Dad not only agreed to the terms of working for us for 2 days a week for one year to "earn" his house, he asked if one year was enough. It seemed very small to him. We don't know how long it will last but so far, for three days he is on board. Do NOT get frustrated when he falls back to the bottle, becuase most likely he will. Sobriety does not come easily.
I have further told the family that I am returning in July (to complete my dental project... I want teeth!!). They understand that IF Dad does the work he has agreed to do, if they develop all the rest of the garden for veggies, if they care for the animals properly, then I will also put running water into the kitchen and electricity into the house. They currently have a single line and two fluorescent lights, one of which actually works. This is run from "my" cabin and paid for by Anton, the British man who's houses I am using here in the village and in Chiang Mai. We will set up their own breaker box and wire every room, etc... I priced out materials and it will cost about $100. Amazing what is so unavailable here and what is so very cheap.
Okay that is the update. I will keep you posted.
Mahalo, Pam
Just another day in P A R A D I S E !!
I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says
"Oh Crap, She's up!"
hit the floor each morning, the devil says
"Oh Crap, She's up!"