I baked the bricks for my house

My name is Stephen Kaddu I am 40 years old. I am a tree planter and farming is my source of livelihood in Nakedde, Namayumba. I am a family man with a wife and two daughters, and three sons.
Building is a project I embarked on it out of admiration and inspiration of my colleagues. I saw them build and always wondered if I would ever put up a building of my own.
The thought kept playing out in my mind until I realised I could not afford to keep wishfully thinking. I own a plot of land that is approximately two acres. My farm and tree project is located in Kampologoma.

Saving for iron sheets
I had planted trees so by the time I got to the roofing level, they had matured and were ready for sale. When I sold them and got money, I made sure I saved some of it.
I had learnt how to save from a non-government organisation called Hunger Free World. They taught us not only good farming practices but also good saving habits. Before they trained us, I did not have good financial discipline. In fact, they opened for us a saving unit, Nakedde Cooperative Saving scheme where I would save money and also access loans.
So whenever I sold timber, I would take some of the money to the cooperative. I started growing maize too. From the money I earned from both tree-planting and harvest from my garden produce, I managed to buy 45 iron sheets which I kept in my first house.

Making bricks
The journey in actualising a home has been long and with a lot of challenges but it has been a learning process for me. Before I started, I thought I could not afford because I knew it required me to have a lot of money before I could start building. Every day I would go to the garden and return home with no core idea on how I was to achieve my dream until it occurred to me that I did not necessarily have to have alot of money to start. I had some anthills in my backyard so I decided to start with them. I used the soil from the anthills to start baking bricks. I began with mixing the soil with water using my feet and hands.

I got some people to help me and every day, we came together and started making bricks. However, we started by making some wooden rectangular shaped boxes with handles at both ends.
These were to help us in shaping the bricks.We would put the soggy soil into these boxes and make bricks. I made up to about 20,000 bricks which I burnt and when they were ready, I started planning for the next stage. I knew I had fairly enough bricks to help me kick-start my building dream. That was in 2002.

The first house
The first house I built is weak and it was only timely for me to put up a more permanent structure. I built it using sand and cow dung and it is therefore not that strong. It even has cracks now. I was young and did not have a stable income. I spent Shs2.5m on it.
Besides, money is scarce and getting it is by luck almost, so whenever I can get it, I utilise it optimally. I fear working so hard and having nothing to show for my effort. I am still constructing and still have quite a journey ahead of me but when I look at the house I am building at the moment, I realise that the house needs almost as much money I have spent on it thus far. I have so far spent about Shs14m on it. However, I am optimistic that my tree project will earn me some handsome money that will give me a push in trying to finish up the house and getting a better home for my family. Today, it is incomplete but I am proud of my effort so far and I am willing to work even harder to finish it and perhaps build more houses, God-willing.

Building process
I started building on 45ft by 23ft of my land. The first phase was up to the window level when my savings were depleted. So I took a rest from construction for a while. I had spent about Shs1.7m up to that level. I had used 35 bags of cement. A bag of cement cost Shs27,000 at the time.
I went back to farming and from my earnings in that harvest I was able to build up to the wall plate. The builder charged me Shs500,000 for his services up to the wall plate.
It was at this stage that I brought out my iron sheets and timber to roof the house. I spent Shs3.6m on buying the iron sheets. I needed nails and other materials whose cost I forget. For the roofing part, the builder billed me Shs700,000.

I am now at the level of putting in doors and windows in the house and I have recently bought doors and window frames. Doors alone cost me Shs2.3m. I buy materials from one of the hardware shops in Namayumba town. While doing all this, I learnt that to be able to build, you need to put your heart into it and more so sacrifice a lot. I always like to feed well and expensively ever since HFW taught us about nutrition but we have had to forego a few things as I saved to put up a better shelter for us. Besides, I did this for my family because death is untimely. I need my family to live a relatively comfortable life whether I am around or when I am gone because they mean a lot to me.

Roofing timber

My next plan was to get timber. Instead of buying, I had kept some sizably big trees. It is from these that I cut timber which would be used on the house. Timber is expensive and this saved me quite some money.
If I had to buy timber, I would probably spend in excess of Shs1m The lumberjacks charged me Shs3,000 for every timber slice they cut. The whole house consumed 280 timber slices, so I ended up spending Shs840,000 on timber.

Advice
•Money. You do not need alot of money to start building a house. As long as you have the will, there will always be a way around.
•Use things around you. I used the soil from the anthills around my old houses. Therefore, before you start building, look at what you have on your land and start with that espcially for the bricks.
•Save and plan. It is important that you have a clear plan of how you want to go about the building process. This will give you direction when it comes to saving.
•Do not go in for expensive labour. Normally, there will always be a good cheap building. So, before you start building, you need to look out for that cheap but good builder.