An idea is growing
When the German supporters had been struggling to pay off the rent of the Family for 10 months the tenant raised the rent by 100%. He realized that Milly got financial aid and that it wouldn’t be easy for her to move home with so many kids.
And so the idea to get a house the Family would own was born. In the long term this seemed to be the safest and cheapest way. That’s why the idea didn’t die even though nobody could imagine how to organize and finance such a project. A survey via mail showed that the friends, supporters and godparents of the Havilah Hope Family were in favor of trying to undertake it.
There were two options: to build the house in a cheap and simple way or to build a sturdy house. Since the cheap house was said to have a “live expectancy” of 5-8 years the decision was made to build a sturdy and long-lasting house. Some supporters really sacrificed a lot in order to finalize the financing quickly! Milly took care of the property and the proper paperwork.
The new home of the Havilah Family ...
... has two main wings. The first is the main house and consists of a porch, living & dining room, a bedroom for Milly, 2 guest rooms, a kitchen and a small storage place.
The second wing was built for the children. It consists of 6 cube-shaped rooms, a porch, bathroom and toilet. Altogether there are 13 rooms plus two built-in toilets, bathrooms and 2 porches.
There is an outside kitchen, more toilets and washrooms outside the house. It’s all very simple but practical.
Expansions
Due to requests from the health department and the youth welfare office several construction measures had to be taken.
Boys and girls had to be spatially separated by erecting a separate building for the boys in 2016/2017.
2019 marked the start of building a girls-house since the newest regulations called for each child to have their own bed. Since the number of children in the orphanage had risen there simply wasn’t enough room to implement this rule in the main house. (This building was funded by a congregation in Great Britain!)
Constructions for a small guesthouse started as well. But for financial reasons those measures had to be stopped for now!
Milestones
- 2014-06-25 Alienation of the property
- 2014-06-26 The decision about the quality of the house is made
- 2014-07-06 Agreement with the architect
- 2014-07-15 The cost estimate for the house is here.
- 2014-07-21 The first building materials arrive.
- 2014-07-22 Start of constructions
- 2014-09-17 The foundation walls are standing.
- 2014-10-08 There’s a new cost estimate – the house is going to be more expensive. This is due to calculations with wrong prices but also due to deviations from the construction plan: the house was simply built bigger than originally planned.
- 2014-10-08 Start of constructions for the toilets and washrooms
- 2014-11-24 Cables are laid inside the house and the walls are plastered
- 2015-01-05 The children move into their very own house
- 2015-01-08 Since the house isn’t finished yet there are problems with the water supply and it’s very cold inside the house
- Constructions on the temporary school building
- 2015-04 We can finally buy beds for the kids
- 2016-06 he house has an electricity supply. Now the pump to bring water from the well they dug on the property to a raised tank can be operated. Now there’s warm water inside the house.
- 2015-08 1st visit from Havilah Hope in Kenia
- 2015-11 Working on the outside facilities - lawn & greenery
- 2015-11 Havilah Hope e.V. has a new Homepage
- 2015-11 Cost estimate for the wall: 9095,-Euro – just for the building materials!!!
- 2015-12 to 2016-08 For the safety of the children and property a wall is erected around the premises. It is made from bricks the Havilah Family made by themselves.
- Next to the entrance gate there’s a cabin for the guard. The property needs to be watched day and night.
- 2015-12 Theft of our water pump
- 2016-06 Some color for the house
- 2016-08 Installation of the ceiling in the living area
- 2016-11 Unusually heavy rains flood the house and swamp the boys’ temporary housing
- 2016-11 Start of construction for the boys house
- 2016-12 Buying a generator due to constant power cuts and building a house for it
- 2017-01 The boys house is as high as the door lintel
- 2017-03 Daddy (Milly’s father) paints the walls of the main house
- 2017-04 The Havilah Hope gate is finished and the boys house has a roof
- 2017-05 By means of a charity walk Milly gathers donations to buy the adjoining property. The new school is to be built on it.
- 2017-05 Start of construction for the outdoor kitchen
- 2017-09 The boys house has an electricity supply
- 2017-10 The boys move into their own house
- 2017-12 The outdoor kitchen is put into operation
- 2018-03 Demolition of the toilets and building temporary new ones!! The authorities set a deadline for Milly to start building the school
- 2018-04 Milly asks an architect to creat two different construction plans. Single-storey and two-storey. The ownership structures of Havilah Hope are notarially certified and conferred to “Hearts of Mercy” (the sponsoring association in Kenia)
- 2018-05 Building new sanitary facilities (8 toilets, 1 urinary, 1 washroom) costs: 1680,- Euro
- 2018-07-31 Begin of constructions for the new school is decided on and risked. The decision falls on the one-storey option since two-stories was too expensive! We hope to buy another property to get enough space for breaks.
- 2018-09 The orphanage’s neighbor is offering to sell his property! It’s perfect for us! On 11.09.2018 we buy another 2000m² of land. Alltogether the property is now sufficiently big for the school.
- 2018-09-17 1st talk with the mayor Dr. Hammer about the circumstances concerning the building of the school (as a consequence he advocates our cause and asks businesses and private individuals to donate for the specific purpose of building the new Havilah Hope School)
- 2018-11 Talk with mayor Dr. Hammer, the county commissioners from DON (Stefan Rössle) und AN (Dr. Jürgen Ludwig), the representative for development assistance of the district administration DON, Hr. Köster, the Hauptamtsleiter vofDKB Thomas Staufinger, and the heads of Havilah Hope e.V. Annette and Matthias Gogolin about building the school
- 2019 (throughout the year) many donations for the specific purpose of building the school from businesses and private individuals – most of those seated or living in and around DKB. (Therefore the school is supposed to be called „Dinkelsbuehler Schule“!) Impressively many creative ideas for activities in and around DKB to gather donations
- 2019-07 Start of constructions for the girls house
- 2019-08 Buying farmland above the school
- 2020-01 Opening the new school
- 2020-02 Buying more farmland – this time some property below the orphanage
- 2020-02 to 04 Some more work on the school (electricity, window glass, etc.)
- 2020-04 Once again there are more thefts etc – we badly need a wall around the school and the farmland
- 2020-04 Start of contructions for the wall around the entire school building including the expansions (see 2018-09) and the farmland.