last weekend i installed a freestanding open fire in to the corner of our open plan living room which we hope will keep us warm during the colder winter months of the western cape, all seemed to be ok with the installation, i made sure that i sealed the chimney where i had broken through the tiles in the roof to ensure that we didn't have any unexpected puddles when it rained......
...last night it rained, and rained and the wind blew and blew and by the morning we had a lovely puddle under the fire with water streaming down the outside of the chimney...it seems that my efforts had been in vain. this afternoon i visited the local hardware store to find some heat resistant silicon sealer which might help with my problem....i'll let you know how it goes..
...the main reason for this story isn't to confirm my lack of handyman skills to many of you who will all know that that isn't my forte, other than i think over this last 7 months i have achieved much more during the building of the village of hope than anyone would have given me credit for!, the story was set as a back drop for my late afternoon trip with a friend, called anderson, who lives in the iraq
...i picked up anderson up from work, he packs boxes of apples for shipment to the UK, and loaded up my buckie, (mines a toyota hilux for all you non south africans), full of old cardboard boxes which he had been collecting over the last few weeks, as we loaded these in the rain, strapping them down for the 20 minute journey home i asked what he was going to be using these for......'oh to insulate my house for the winter, to keep me warm and to make sure that the rain doesn't pour through my roof like last night, that soaked my clothes and bed'.....i had thought as much and as we delivered the boxes to his home we were helped by some of the boys that i work with on tuesday afternoons at our soccer club....they all wanted a piece of cardboard to put over the hole in their roof to ensure that their beds didn't get wet tonight too....as i sit here in my warm home, with a slight leak in the corner, created by me to put in a fireplace it puts my silicon sealant story into context hey.....?
please pray for anderson, our soccer boys and the thousands, maybe millions of south africans living in and around cape town who tonight will be worried about the leaks coming through their make shift roofs, and pray for more helpers to enable us to empower these people.....thanks (timx)
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