Build Them A Home Progress Report #5

It is Friday morning. I am sitting in our living room watching Amo take 5 minute naps and then wake up full of energy over and over and over again. We are all enjoying our favorite little house guest, but are so excited for her to be in her new home with her family!!! 


Now it is time for an update, and also for another ask. Yes, we met our goal of raising $10,000 to #BuildThemAHome, but as with most building projects we have found some places where we underestimated the cost and other things that we forgot altogether!! So, if you were still thinking of giving, please do! You can use the handy dandy donate button at the top of our blog, or if sending checks is your thing you can: 
  • Write a check made out to: 1st CRC Edgerton
  • In the memo of the check write: "Take Action House Project"
  • Send to: 1st CRC Edgerton 120 Center Street South Edgerton, MN 56128
  • Send an email to Darin at thefeyfamily@gmail.com so that we can keep track of funds as they come in and to give us a record of donations in case any mail goes missing!
The outstanding items and costs are as follows:
  • plumbing supplies - $150
  • stand for water tank (to provide water pressure to make indoor plumbing work) - $500
  • gas water heater - $200
  • kitchen cabinets - $300
  • interior paint (this is NOT a necessity, more of a "if you live in the area and have some paint to donate, please do!!)
Originally, we had planned to use a contractor, but to keep things a bit more low-key and to build goodwill in the community, Annah and her family really wanted to use local builders, plumbers, and electricians and not the contacts of the contractor. This made sense as they already stand out in the community because of their white friends! Everyone has done a fantastic job, but the builders didn't exactly follow the plan and the house is about 20 square meters larger than the original plans. In the end, this is going to be great, but it has thrown our costing a bit out of whack. A larger house means more materials for plastering, more wiring and electrical conduit, longer copper pipes for the plumbing, more tile, etc. Once the foundations were laid, there was no going back, so now we are just trying to make a plan. 
Side view: Kitchen door and current outdoor toilet
If we aren't able to raise additional funds, the family does have about $900 that they had started saving in preparation for building a home and we will find the money to make everything workable, but we are really hoping we don't need to dip into their savings. 

In their own words:

"The question we always asked ourselves was when are we ever going to build and how much money do we actually need to start. The answer to those questions was never and we don't have enough. We had actually saved almost R10,000 to start making the bricks, but that would only be the beginning and then we would have to stop."


"We are so relieved to be moving into a finished house and not only having a pile of bricks. For us to have a house like you have built for us would mean that we would all need to be working good paying jobs, like career jobs and not the kind of jobs we have. Now we don't have to build a house and can focus on saving for Johanna's (now in Grade 9) university fees and saving to buy a car so that we can transport Amo (this is becoming more and more difficult with public transport)."
Front of house
"It is amazing what is happening. People just gave away their money and some don't even know us but they did it because they have love in their hearts. You have taught us that love and you have made our dreams come true."

I will be sharing more from the Baloyi family in the next update. Right now, Darin is out picking up a few more bags of cement so that the outside plastering can be finished. The inside plastering is finished, the electrical stuff will be finished after the plumbing, which should get finished this weekend. The tilers are coming tomorrow and plan to finish tiling by Sunday. The window guy is coming to install glass on Monday. After that, the family will do a big clean from all the building mess and move in!! 
Dining room looking into kitchen
If you know of anyone who can help us finish this project well, please share this post with them. We are so excited to share photos of the family in their new house!!

Spread the Word. Share the Love. Build Them a Home.

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