Diary of... Gemma Pope,  recruitment consultant-cum-builder, Aston Taylor

15-Oct-2008

Gemma Pope,  recruitment consultant-cum-builder, Aston Taylor

Monday

First day of the build and the rain is torrential! We meet at Mfuleni School [Mfuleni is the township] to meet our home owners and wait for the rain to stop before we can get started. It doesn’t happen. We lose a whole day of building, but hey — us recruiters love a challenge and it just makes the team more determined to succeed! We try not to be discouraged and lift spirits — with spirits…



Tuesday

Again we arrive at the school, ready with boots and hard hats, and the rain stops. We go to the site to be greeted by five or six kids playing in our mound of sand. We have a huddle, shouting ‘Yeoleh!’ (this is it!) before launching into building a house — aka listening to an experienced South African builder. I mix cement, known as ‘duggha’, all day, with breaks to play with the kids and teach them how to play thumb wars — not easy when they don’t speak English. By 5pm, we are amazingly on target for day two.



Wednesday

After a sleepless night (the muscles in my back go into shock at all the work) we are back at our house by 9am. We’re halfway through and we have half a shell of a house. The scaffolding goes up today for the upper courses to be laid, window and door frames in, and I mix duggha — again! A neighbour decides this house-build needs some music and the dancing begins as we carry on building.



Thursday

Roof day. The gables go up and I am the only female, along with three men, willing to go up on the roof, and I loved it! I tiled the roof; a beautiful, hot day and I may even get a tan. We brought face paints for the kids today and before we know it, we have over 40 kids swarming around the girls for a face paint. A reminder of how effective word of mouth is.



Friday

The final day. Just half a day of work, as we go up Table Mountain this morning and then the closing ceremony is at 3pm. We have a lot to do: finish the roof and build internal walls. I lay my first brick! Team work is essential today and we finish with a completed house and a very happy and excited family. By far, this has been the best, most life-changing experience I have ever had and I am proud to work for a company that supports such a great cause.