On building a wooden house

One of our close neighbours here at the Bible School has decided to do some home improvements. Blewah is a teacher at the school, and he lives here with his wife, Ratree, and their two children, aged 7 years and six months old. They live on the edge of one of the Bible School's fish ponds, and also raise chickens, frogs and a cow. Here was their house three weeks ago:

The original house - complete with kitchen extension (to the right)

Following a few days of noisy and quick demolition work, and then the first week of (re) construction, here's the house today:

One of the great advantages of building (mostly) with wood is that it's cheap, and readily available. The main posts for the new house were cut from a tree felled on site last Tuesday. And the floors and walls of the new house will use recovered wood from an old building which is being replaced during the Bible School summer holidays.

The carpenter, Kamphee, surveying his work so far

Kamphee is a third year student at Siloam Bible School - before coming to the school, he worked for some years as a carpenter. He is supervising the construction, and seems to be doing a very professional job. Health and safety standards may not be quite up to a British standard, though - there are no hard hats on this building site!

But Bob the Builder wears a hard hat...

Among the downsides, however, is that wooden houses don't last long in this humid climate. Without careful and repeated treatment, termites quickly eat away at the wood, and rot can easily set in during the long monsoon season. So they do need replacing much more regularly than stone or brick houses.

While the construction is going on, Blewah's family are staying in a small wooden hut next to their house - they are hoping to be back in the house before the start of term in May. Hopefully we'll be able to see the finished results, and celebrate the new house dedication, before we leave for our Home Assignment in June!

Temporary family accommodation (at the back left of the picture)

Graduation Day

Graduation Day is always a special occasion - and this year was no exception. Nine full-time students and seven pastors celebrated the completion of their courses last Sunday here at the Siloam Bible School.

The graduating students line up outside the hall before the ceremony

Thankfully the weather was not nearly as hot as last year, which made the three-hour long ceremony much more enjoyable for everybody involved! The friends and families of the graduating students crowded into the Bible School's meeting hall to watch as diplomas and degrees were awarded in a solemn formal worship service.

Diplomas being awarded - the view from the stage!

After the service, the smiles broke out! Groups of families and friends gathered to take photos with the graduates - who were showered with flowers and other gifts.

Graduates laden down with flowers and gifts

 We have known some of the graduates for five years. Those studying the English Language programme arrived at the Bible School in May 2009, just days before we moved in here. Pete has taught this class almost every term since then - and so it was particularly moving for us to watch them graduate.

With Moody, a graduate of the English Programme

Please continue to pray for these graduates as they move into work and ministry - and also for the ongoing work of the Siloam Bible School in preparing the future leaders of the Karen Baptist churches.