From November 8 – 18 I travelled to Uganda and Rwanda with Building Goodness. The purpose of the trip was to explore the possibility of building a hospital for the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation, based in Kasese, Uganda. My travel partner for the trip was Martin Quarles, a veteran BGF volunteer and builder with Alexander Nicholson.

The epic trip began in Washington. We took a 12 hour flight to Istanbul, a 6 hour flight to Entebbe, and then an eight hour drive to get to Kasese. Once there, Martin and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of hard-working people and explore a beautiful place. Our hosts were Bishop Zebedee Masereka and his wife Mama Stella, who are founding members of the Foundation. The foundation was initially begun as a program to aid students and children whose families have fallen victim to HIV / AIDS, but it now also focuses on providing medical care to the entire community. We met with Dr. Daniel Sambili, the chief operating physician at the BMCF medical clinic. We met the entire medical and administrative staff at the clinic, all of whom were very optimistic about the work they were doing and forthcoming in their goals for the new facility. In addition to Daniel, the staff includes two clinical officers, ten nurses, a lab technician, a lab assistant, one radiographer, and an administrative staff (30 people total). They have only 18 beds and one operating theater. Their primary focus is maternity and neonatal care, but they provide other services through their lab, which is able to check for malaria, HIV, etc. They offer inpatient, diagnostic, and outpatient care while also placing importance on community consultation for birth control and HIV / AIDS prevention. It is the only care immediately available to the residents of Kasese. However, they are currently operating out of a rented facility that is composed of four small (approx. 20’ x 40’) buildings, which are entirely inadequate. The humble facility restricts their capabilities, and the new hospital will allow them to better serve the town of Kasese and the surrounding area.

In addition to meeting with the medical staff we had many other key meetings with board members and community leaders. Present in all meetings was Leslie Nicholson, a key member of BMCF’s Board of Directors in the United States. We also had the pleasure of meeting three members of MASS Design – Chris Maurer, Andrew Brose, and Commode Dushimimana (all of whom live in Rwanda). MASS Design is a group of very talented designers and builders with offices in Boston, MA and Kigali, Rwanda . Formed as a subsidiary group of Partners in Health, MASS provides high quality design services mainly in Central Africa. We had an opportunity to tour their recently completed hospital in Butaro, Rwanda.  Set on top of a hill with a beautiful view, the hospital is an extremely sophisticated facility that was built over the course of three years primarily with local labor and materials. The hospital is now successfully serving a rural community of approximately 400,000 people.

While we were certainly busy with meetings, we did have a day of leisure spent in Queen Elizabeth National Park, where we were able to see lions, hippos, buffalo, crocodiles, elephants, monkeys, as well as many different kinds of birds, and other animals.

The trip was a success in many ways. Martin and I were blown away by how incredibly dedicated these people are to their work, and we hope to be involved in the project. It remains to be determined exactly who will be involved in the construction of the BMCF hospital, but the preconstruction process is underway and the new facility will greatly improve the lives of those living in Kasese and western Uganda.

- Tommy

Last week I was formally voted onto the Board of Directors of the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association. It should be an interesting opportunity to meet more people in the construction business in Charlottesville and to try to further encourage green building in this area.

The BRHBA combined its annual meeting with a volunteer meal packing event at the Better Living warehouse for the non-profit Stop Hunger Now, which provides meals to hungry people throughout the world. We packed 10,000 bags in two hours! The lighting wasn’t great, we wore hair nets, and the assembly line made me recall a number of cases from my operations classes in business school, but spirits were high and I got to meet some other nice folks. The BRHBA raised $2500 to pay for the food, packaging, shipping, and delivery of the 10,000 meals. If you are interested in hosting a similar event, check out their website.

Please remember those without food this Thanksgiving and give thanks for all that we have. I feel so blessed to be healthy, secure and loved.

–Joey

Devin designed and built a really cool mailbox for our new house on 6th St. He used up leftover pressure treated deck scraps and stained it the same color to match the window trim. It is both hefty and refined and fits the new house perfectly.

Tom used miscellaneous hardware from Tractor Supply including a barn door sliding tract to fashion two industrial pot racks. Total cost: a little over 3o bucks. (In one of the photos, you can also see our new soapstone counter tops from Alberene Soapstone. Joey might throw up a post of going down to the quarry and picking out our slabs. Anyway, for a variety of reasons, we’re excited to be making the switch from concrete counters to local soapstone).

- Jeff

Green Matters Workshop: Five Steps to Understanding Your Home in Winter
When: Thursday, November 17, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Where: ecoREMOD (608 Ridge Street, Cville)
LAST GREENMATTERS WORKSHOP OF 2011!

Reserve your spot by emailing annie@leap-va.org or calling 434.227.4666.

Join us to learn the five things you need to know about your home to save money and be cozy this winter. We’ll address trouble spots like fireplaces and windows and have a demonstration on how to build a professional style attic hatch cover.

The five steps we’ll cover to understand your home this winter:

1. Everyone knows that heat rises. Learn the rest of the story.
2. Cold air outside, warm moist air inside. Manage humidity and avoid condensation problems.
3. Fireplaces. Reduce their negative impact while still enjoying the occasional fire.
4. Windows. Practical ways to keep the cold out and the heat in.
5. Maintaining indoor air quality during the winter months.
Bonus: Demo on how to build a professional style attic hatch cover.

Speakers include Laura Fiori of Key Green Energy Solutions, recently awarded “Best Home Energy Auditor” by LEAP.

Passive House Now: A Seminar on the State of Passive House Now
When: Friday, November 18, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Where: Lankford Passive House, #229 Lankford Avenue

Join Fred Greenewalt and Bill Jobes to experience the quiet comfort of their recently completed Lankford Passive House, the first certified PH in Virginia.

We will examine the achievements of PH in the US and Virginia, through Case Studies of PH projects at different scales, concluding with a panel discussion by local PH builders.

Registration fee $40 at the door
*RSVP by November 11, 2011 (Limited seating)

PROGRAM:

PH TODAY
John Semmelhack
Cert. PH Consultant (Think Little Home Energy, LLC)

SINGLE FAMILY
Bill Jobes
Building Contractor (Jobes Builders, Ltd.)

TOWNHOUSE / MULTIFAMILY
John Semmelhack

SCHOOLS
Barbara Gehrung
Dipl.-Ing. Ach. / Cert. PH Consultant (BG Design & Consulting)

RETROFITS / HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Giovanna Galfione
Architect (Galfione + Cox Studio)

COMMERCIAL PH
Adam Cohen
Design/Builder (Structures Design Build)

___________________________________________________

PANEL DISCUSSION:
Dale Abrahamse(Abrahamse & Company Builders)
Adam Cohen(Structures Design/Build)
Jeff Erkelens(Latitude 38)
Daniel Ernst(Promethean Homes)
Bill Jobes (Jobes Builders)

Travel to the end of any Latitude 38 air hose and you will find a pot of gold-emotionally, spiritually, and cosmetically. Jeff DeBellis is no exception. Originally from New York state he was drawn, like multitudes before him, by the silent tug of the Blue Ridge granite. Jeff met Jeff in a West Virginia yurt beneath a fated moon. How this came to pass is beyond the scope of this paragraph. Here two men discovered one shared destiny: Return to Charlottesville and turn lumber into dreams. Will he thrive here-this latter-day Jeff who labors defiantly shirtless beneath the gun barrel skies of autumn? Our answer came last Friday, when our newest Jeff left the jobsite and entered rush hour traffic with a twenty foot bamboo branch flaring like a great Chinese firework from the sunroof of his green sedan. By Monday it would be his fishing pole. Witnessing this one gesture, we knew that everything would be all right.

Favorite jobsite noise? Neighbors asking for a twelve-pack.

If you could choose to have only one thing hopelessly tangled in your extension cord, what would it be? Tommy.

Favorite Crocodile Dundee line? “No mate. This is a knife”.

After yesterday’s blog post, I received this email:

“Ms. Conover…

We have an old & leaky house. Who might you recommend as a home energy auditor?

–Curious”

I thought others in the Charlottesville area might also like to see my answer.

There is a non-profit in town focused on home audits and energy retrofits: LEAP. They are probably the best source of info about who to call for your particle needs. They have a list of contractors involved in their program who have gone through a Building Performance Institute training. See those with an asterisk here:

http://leap-va.org/about/contractors

Unfortunately, I do not really know any of these folks, so I do not feel qualified to specifically recommend anyone. Just be aware that some of the auditors just do the audits, while others also can do the work. I’m not sure which is better, but call a few to see if they have experience with your age/type of home.

More about what a home audit is:
http://leap-va.org/home-energy/assessment

I love the crisp white Scandanavian look, but I also love color (did I mention that I am a Gemini?). What to do? Well, I we decided to go white on the first floor, and then really go bold as you go upstairs. Here are a few teaser photos to give you an idea. When you come stay in our guest room, we want you to feel you are staying in room very different than your own house. The excitement of travel!

If you are curious about what paint we are using, we have used an Olympic primer, Mythic eggshell (purchased from the nice folks at Nature Neutral) and Sherwin Williams Harmony eggshell. The Mythic website states:

Mythic® paint is a non-toxic, ultra low odor paint that provides the durability and coverage you expect from a premium paint without the off-gassing VOC’s and cancer-causing toxins that emit years after drying. Stronger, safer, smarter paint®. Now that’s a breath of fresh air.

Focusing on the no-VOC paints seems to be smelling pretty good so far.

20th C Modern Saturday, Oct. 15 @ 10
(Preview Week of sale M-W 9-5, Th-Fr 9-7)
+
First Fridays, Oct. 7, 5-8
(Join us for a little vino and check out the terrific art in this sale!)

Complete online catalog

More pictures

Partial Listing: Bruce Weber, Robert Rauschenberg, Ben Shahn, Charley Harper, Ed Ruscha, Jean Dubuffet, Harry Nadler, Ted Turner, Irving Haynes, John Leith Craxton, Gaetano Pesce, Peter Halley, Barbara Kruger, Jose Maria Sicilia, Gene Davis, Jimmy Ernst, Jay Protas, George Platt Lynes, George Hurrell, George Rouault, Richard Prince, Yasumasa Morimura, Bernard Buffet, Nan Goldin, John Dugdale, Jack Pierson, Duane Michals, Jack Perlmutter, Pavel Federovich Tchelitchew, Chris Norris, Ruth Gikow, Pablo Picasso, Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol, Marianna von Allesch, Michael Ayrton, Ivan Mosca, W.J. Walley, Yngve Ekstrom, Richard Uhlemeyer, Fantoni for Raymor, Murano Venini Salviati, Frederic Weinberg, Tapio Wirkkala, Nils Thorsson, Royal Copenhagen, Hjorth, Gertrud Kudielka, Flygsfors, Kastrup Holmegaard, Strombergshyttan, Orrefors, Jais Nielsen, Arne Bang, Gli Etruschi, Barbini Murano, Jacques Adnet, Italma by Jean Gillon, Soholm Bornholm, Rosenthal-Netter, Oiva Toikka, Lietzke Porcelain, Herman Kahler, Harry Bertoia for Knoll, Sarreid, Heritage Henredon, Paul Klee, Alvar Aalto, Paul Bellardo, Riihimäen Lasi Oy, Bjorn Wiinblad, Gambone, Haeger, Ettore Sottsass, Susie Cooper, Erphila, Kartell, Iittala, Curtis Jeré, etc.

Back Gallery Modern Friday, Oct. 14 @ 10
(Preview M-W 9-5, Th 9-7)

Furniture by Herman Miller, Thonet and Lane, Danish Modern furniture, Steve Keene and other artwork, Art Glass & Pottery, Lighting, Rugs, 1950s Vintage, and lots of great smalls! Still unpacking…

Complete list available at preview.

Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery (VAAF-06)
2109 India Road
Charlottesville, Virginia 22901
www.harlowepowell.com
434.293.2904