Building Aloha House

2008-04-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Plastering is finished and plumbing will be next, after that paint, flooring and tile. The toilets arrived today and the paint is coming.

The rooms have great airflow and stay cool throughout the day because we are planting on the roof.

The walls go up.

We used 4" hollowblock, but the ceiling is precast for strength and durability on an economical scale.

The school rooms need finishing, but the cabinet is going in.

The plans as drawn by the civil engineer.

2007-03-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

We have a graywater treatment tank with submerged vegetative beds in our constructed wetlands habitat for the reuse of our water resources.

Our outdoor school area needs a permanent home and we will be building rooms on the lower part of the property.

2007-02-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

We started terracing the lower lot and will build as funds become available. The viewplan is looking east on the lower part of the property.

Plans include dorms for mothers in crisis, school rooms, green house, goat house, barn and intern bunk house.

The lower lot before we started was just steep scrub brush slopes.

The loader put in terraces and an irrigation canal. We will have a water catchment and treatment center for our laundry and shower water.

2007-02-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

As president of ABSNet, Narcy put on a training for social workers.

Area Based Standards Network helps NGOs get registered and licensed with the DSWD

2007-01-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

Agriculture magazine is promoting our up coming seminars in Luzon and Mindanao.

We recently attended an organic food and farmers symposium in the Capitol building. There is growing interest in the techniques we use for inexpensive food production.

2006-12-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Various front shots from the courtyard.

The pavers went in with gravel and sand foundations to promote drainage.

We enjoyed designing the sunflower railing design upstairs.

Next we need to build the school house and dorm complex. We have the plans and building permit and are ready when funds become available.

The view from sea level.

2006-12-13T05:40:00.000-08:00

Some overtime on the second floor and playground/yard. We were able to install pavers with bermuda grass so that the children will have a lawn to run on when they go outside for play time.

The pavers went in with gravel and sand foundations to promote drainage.

The front gate has been updated with the sunflower railing design to match the railing upstairs.

The single helix going to the roof deck.

We are still working out a color scheme for the arches, the lime green we tried wasn't a match. It's looking like Barrier Reef is the best color.

2006-12-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

We all managed to get together for a group shot, our pre Christmas pose in uniform!

A child takes inventory of all the little babies. We are full once again and we have a bunch of toddlers, many talking and jabbering freely now.

On our neighbors lot we continue to grow many varieties of vegetables for the staff and children. All natural, healthy and fresh to the table. We are able to sell some of the herbs and vegetables to walk in customers and one super market. The property is available and for sale. If some one buys it from the owner we will lose that part of the farm. We pray we will be able to buy it next year.

We hired a sugar-mill-on-wheels to extract cane juice. It was a handy machine that allowed us to extract almost 3 drums of cane juice. Then we had to cook down 500 Liters into about 25 Kilos of raw organic sugar. That should hold us for a few birthday cakes at the orphanage.

The flowering of the sugar cane indicates high concentration of sugars with minimum water content. These are fifteen foot tall photosynthetic factories of natural sweetness.

2006-12-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Some of the finished wood work turned out better than we expected. We use alot of Ipil and Narra in the Philippines. This is the ceiling, narra plywood panels stained and in place.

This is the back room of the staff quarters, we put in a loft that can double as overflow sleeping if we have special cases that need protection.

This is the two-shower-two-toilet-two-sink-no-waiting staff C.R. (comfort room).

2006-06-08T03:41:00.000-07:00

The laundry area is finished. We have more space for linens, diapers etc. The repairmen are pictured replacing the belt for the dryer. We need to replace our old units with new ones soon.

Mele Nani is growing up and enjoys playing with dolls and posing for pictures. She is potty trained at 2 years old! We are proud of her. She likes dressing up and appreciates the continual supply of clean clothes. We are glad the laundry room was moved and finished in time for the construction of the second floor.

2005-08-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

The second floor is used for drying diapers, clothes, and linens on a sunny day.
The waterslide utilizes all the runoff from the roof. It is stored in a 3,000 Liter (3 ton) water tank beneath the potable water tank from the deep well. The rain water is also used for washing clothes, watering plants and rinsing hair.
We built in phases. The first turn goes down from the stairs and then ends in a pool with a swirl effect. It was fun when we tested it, the paint was only temporary. Now we will tile it for proper up keep. The babies love to splash and play in the water, It's designed for wading with a small stairway in and out and a cement path back up to the top. We steel reinforced the cement so that we could hold as much water as possible on a rainy day. All our rain spouts go into the water slide and fill the pool. It then spills into the rice terrace and waters the farm. Tessie takes a ride with one of the toddlers. Once we tile it, the pool will be connected from the top.

Second floor on hold

2005-05-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

The children's patio was finished in May. This is a great play area, rain or shine. It even has a loft with a tree house, a rope ladder and fireman's pole. The bigger children can make it up all by themselves. Sometimes the rope ladder needs a little holding, especially for adults.

The see-saw is in the center of the court yard with the rocking zebra. I actually made the zebra myself. It just took some wire mesh hung to a frame. I made it with left over steel from the cement work. Then a lot of patient spackling with my mortar tool. Before it was painted white and black, most of the onlookers thought it was a dog. After a few days of layering the cement shape and some white paint with black stripes, they gave me the benefit of the doubt. It's a wild ride, for sure, but it's welded to a truck spring and has stirrups.

Archie likes to bike around the court yard and is very good on his bike now. The playground is a happy place where the children all get outside in the fresh air and use thier muscles. You can see the covering over the stairs to the second floor in the background. We hope to begin building the second floor when funds become available. The plans are finalized and the builder is awaiting our call.

2005-04-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

The Septic system for second floor is completed. Auxillary restrooms are located on top. They are being utilized by visitors and guests as well as our attendies in our livelihood and sustainable agriculture seminars.

Stairway to second floor complete

2005-03-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

We were able to put in the stairs to the second floor. It has a small storage area below and a wash area for the gardeners and children coming up from the farm.
The stairs will connect the court yard, playground, and patio to the staff quarters and guest rooms. This will allow a main access to the top floor. Before now, we only had a back service stairway. We use it to go to the roof and hang laundry. Eventually, we will have a drying area for our piles of diapers and childrens clothing. With two exits and lots of open air, the second floor will be cool, with good airflow and a nice view too.
Archie and Narcy had nothing to do with it, but they posed with a hammer when he was young. Now Archie is old enough to carry a tool all by himself.