The Comedic Trials of Constructing a Stairway Handrail in Kenya (almost) by Yourself

This story begins with another character, because when the group from Project Kenya was here in March, Mr. Tucker began to construct this handrail pretty much by himself as the rest of us focused on getting the corridor railings finished. All the hammers were being used and the handsaws were free, so he cut many of the pieces to length and I helped him briefly to mark where the concrete needed to be drilled to affix the frame. However, the impact drill was occupied with the corridor handrails for the rest of the time.

Therefore, we specified that those pieces were to be set aside for these stairs handrails, and Lesley and I set off for Nairobi with the group as we wrote about before. Upon returning to Ribe after exploring Western Kenya, to my disappointment, the timber was merely set aside within the wide-open school building (granted up on the upper floor, but still…), and to my amazement, all the pieces were still there. Therefore, I not so wisely allowed them to stay as they were as we resumed work with plastering around the windows and sealing the handrails along the corridor with some gloss varnish.

You guessed it – a couple pieces went missing! I was especially baffled, because one of the missing ones was a 2x6 and 2x2 screwed together to make a 2x8 to fix to the concrete; how does that not cry “done intentionally,” huh? We discovered/recovered the 2x2 with the half dozen screws and the remaining bits of the other part that had been ripped off to be used as firewood! Furthermore, by the time I wished to construct the handrail, I had forgotten that the chuck key for the drill was misplaced in all the chaos of the last day the group was in Ribe. I also found that the chuck of the drill was already beginning to rust in the Kenyan coast humidity!

So, now that the stage is set, here are excerpts from my little work/activity journal (more of a “log” since I don’t do much analytical “journaling”):

· Went to the school to measure and layout timber for the stairway handrail. Tom (the school watchman) had a saw, so we cut the replacements needed from leftover timber.

· Got the drill from the school store (locked closet), and made a template of the holes that were marked on the concrete to drill the replacement upright board. Borrowed chuck key from a local handyman to drill the replacement board, but the key was not a good fit & the already rusting chuck cannot fit the other bit for the concrete.

· Went to the hardware shop while in Kaloleni to look for chuck key & anti-rust, but they had neither, so I sent Tito a text message requesting his help getting them from Mombasa.

· Tito brought anti-rust (WD-40), but had to take the drill to ensure the correct chuck key.

· Tito did not make it to the hardware shop due to business meetings & then the shops were closed since it was Sunday.

· On Monday, I picked up the drill from Tito’s office in Mombasa and went to get the chuck key, and also bought more WD-40.

· Finally able to work on the handrail! Couldn’t find Tito’s extension cable, so went to borrow one from the local handyman and return his chuck key. Had some minor frustrations screwing the concrete screws into the concrete, but worked through lunch – which confused Tom (who was helping me); at 1 pm, he asked if I didn’t want lunch today & I told him, “I had wanted to work on this all last week, so I want to do as much as possible.” Got the uprights & top rails in place!

· Fortified the uprights and installed the lower rails, but electricity went out at about lunchtime, so no more power drill.

· [Occupied with other plans with Lesley and Katie for several days]

· Back to the school to enhance the handrail, and discover that the head teacher wants the top rails replaced with some better timber in the school’s storage room (especially since the somewhat questionable timber (but the best long enough of what was left from the corridor handrails) had now been rained on). Yet, it still would’ve been nice if he had said something when he saw them before we installed them!

Found replacement timber with Tom (the watchman) and cut one to length, but the other was a 6x2 board [over 10 feet long], so I carried it [across Ribe] to Tito’s workshop and cut it on his table saw over lunchtime.

Carried the now 2x4 & 2x2 rails back to the school, but Tom went to the hospital for his fever. Couldn’t get the drill from Tom’s store (locked closet), but one of the teachers helped me cut the angles on the ends & temporarily screw them in place.

· Reinforced the replacement handrails & installed vertical balusters at the top (on the landing). Unfortunately broke a couple tired drill bits, but hope to finish tomorrow!

· Got sidetracked from finishing the handrail by some tasks that required going to Kaloleni.

· On Friday before going to Nairobi to sightsee with Katie and then bid her farewell, I went to the school and began improvising with the drill bits to install vertical balusters on the upper stretch of stairs. Broke another drill bit due to the improvising, and got smarter with my creativity.

Took a late lunch, but determined to come back to finish. The same teacher as before offered to meet me to help complete the job.

We resumed at 4 pm and installed the balusters on the lower stretch of stairs before dusk set in (at around 6:30).

Finally finished!

Now, it just needs a touch of

sandpaper and some sealing varnish…

...along with that wall of alternating blocks getting plastered, among just a few other things remaining on this new school building!