Construction Issues

Well, watching and waiting on the renovation of our house has been good for teaching us a few lessons about patience and about how many things work here in Rwanda.

As you may have read in an earlier post, we have a contract on a house about a block from our current temporary furnished apartment. We like the landlady immensely. She is Rwandan, married to a Belgian (though he died a few years ago), who has settled in Spain since the war. Senora Eugenie is very outgoing, and switches from Spanish (directed towards me) to French (Andrea) to Kinyarwandan (without noticing it). We think she likes us too, as she has had several offers on the place but only considered ours seriously because she wanted a real family to live in her house.

During the war, she and her husband and their adolescent sons actually had to take shelter in a cold storage room in the very center of the house to stay safe from gunfire. So, as you can imagine, the house was worn pretty heavily in 1994. Fast forward to just over a year ago: Senora moved back to Kigali, with the notion of fixing the house up in a few months for rental, then returning to Spain. It was still in pretty crude shape the first time we saw it nearly two months ago. All the while, she's camped out in there, making it work for her.

Then we made a verbal agreement with her, and asked her to negotiate directly with Andrea's work since they pay the rent directly. In these sessions she admitted that she has run out of capital to buy materials and pay her workers. She requested a full-year's rent in advance in order to make it liveable for us. Andrea's work agreed to 6 months immediately, 6 months when we move in August 15th. The up-front payment was insured so that they will get the money back if it's not ready on time.

Well, last week, she waved me down as I passed by the property to tell me she's out of money again and needed 2 months more rent paid in order to finish.

This really floored us, since this place is far from what we would consider ready for living. In fact, Andrea's Operations Manager (Irene) came up to respond to the request and pointed out that 3 items had been completely done from a list of 15 we all agreed were necessary for occupying. Several of the remaining 12 were started, but not completed. For example, the shower surrounds, stove, fridge, kitchen cupboards, drapes, closet doors and shelves, etc. had all been chosen and (she says) paid for, but were not on sight or installed. The exterior was about 1/3 painted, and the interior not even close to that. the driveway was just over half done. And so on.

So Irene and Senora agreed on Thursday that the best way to demonstrate that she is capable of finishing on time is to come back on Monday (tomorrow) for a return inspection to show how much of this can be done in a short time. An audition of sorts.

Senora then had the unenviable task of lighting a fire under all the workers to go harder even though she would still not be paying them. And she had to get everything that has been bought into the house at least, if not installed. In record time.

The lesson in patience -in fact- is being taught by her. She has lived away from Rwanda long enough that the pace of the local workers drives her even crazier than it does us. Another particular of the local trade is that it seems as though half the work done seems to be undone in a later step. Ceramic tiles laid on the main entry staircase have been cracked or smashed by carelessly bringing ladders or heavy equipment up them with a few drops along the way. A wall that has just been painted completely beige gets sprayed yellow while putting the finishing touches on the nearby handrail. We're told this isn't a problem, they'll just paint the column again. Drop cloths or taping to avoid this? Just not the way it's done here. Same goes for paint all over the tile floors: "Don't worry, we'll get someone to scrape that up later."

Well, Zoe and I stopped by to check in this morning, and it is looking better. The painting is all done with the exception of the room Senora is sleeping in. The curtain hardware is in the house, and a sewing machine for the drapes themselves. The yard and retaining walls are being cleaned up a little. It looks a lot more ready. But still no real kitchen, no closets, no showers, unfinished driveway and guardrail in the high play area. We are so close, and yet so far. For all my questions about the progress on these issues, the answer is, "Manana." Tomorrow. I sincerely hope she understands that it is either tomorrow, or never for us. We really don't want to lose this place. It seems perfect for us. I'll keep you posted.