AFRICAN HUT CONSTRUCTION (5)

Photos and captions by John A. Harris

Breaking ground | Preparing materials | Walls begin | Walls built | Roofing begins | Roof takes shape | Towards completion

The house begins to take shape. The square outline marked by the completed uprights of the four walls (note the gap in the left facing wall for the entrance). As with the uprights, the longer roof poles need to be trimmed.

Thomas continues with the task of trimming. The completed longer poles that will be used to construct the roof can be seen resting against the walls. Later these will be pulled up and tied together in a cone-shape to form the roof. (See the head of a 5 year old boy? That's me!)

Care needs to be taken. It would be easy to fall. This difficult stage requires that long components for the roof are first pulled up. Then the poles are balanced by length and their angles made equal before tying them up. It would be even riskier for someone to do this alone.