See the land for yourself

The most serious contenders for land for IMS' new campus are a block of 4890m2 with a line of gumtrees and about 2 other nice large ones, access to running water but not currently electricity (may be a year), 1 km down an un-great dirt road from the main eastern highway.

... and one about half the size (2000m2) with no trees one block from the same highway already surrounded by elec poles and houses with water. Both blocks are a fair hike from where we are at present, but as they will soon finish the interchange for this side they will then start on widening the road to 4 lanes (at least 2 years of more detours then hopefully will be a pleasant drive).

Both currently about the same price - they’ve gone down, we’ve gone up - but still bargaining with nonexistent funds as all this is on faith that funds will be found (currently needing about $Aus70 000 for the land, and another $230 000 for building).

To see what we’re talking about, go to www.maps.google.com or open your Google Earth and type or paste in “12.414429, -1.437525” (without the quotes) for the larger plot and “12.405982, -1.432603” for the smaller and compare the two for yourself.

6 tôles and a Rav4: A better look at a plot of land for sale.

The video's actually the right way up this time... Half an hour after rain, about 15 minutes out of Ouagadougou dodging potholes on the main eastbound highway since it's not being repaired until redone with the new fancy overpass/interchange with Ouaga's circular bypass road. So the theory is that getting to this plot in a year or two should be a breeze, and the construction all around shows how quickly the town is moving outward even though there's not many facilities here at present. Anyway, the high clearance of the Rav has been invaluable in the bush-bashing or puddle-surfing to some of these spots.

Once you get to the plots other questions then arise: do you want room for a volleyball court or a footy field to provide oxygen to students' brains getting fatigued after hours of homework? Or is there one nearby? What about families with kids and their schools? This one has a private school just behind, another (Assembly of God-run) on the main road about 300m away and a public primary school 400m away.

Translation of 'franglais' terms used in the video:
poteaux pronounced "pot-toe" - phone or in this case electric poles;
2000 metres carrés - square metres; 1/5 of a hectare, roughly 7 local house plots;
six tôles "see tolles" - minimum size house to claim a plot of land: one room, usually mudbrick, with 6 sheets of corrugated iron roofing (tôles), as seen on the left in the photo above next to my transport cum moving van (the back seats haven't been down this past week of treks to and from IMS transporting goods to new office or storage).

Buying land in Ouaga

Checking out survey markers for plots of land and seeing photocopies of documents are some of the steps in looking for a property to build for IMS. Does it have access to running water? Electricity? Roads passable in rainy season? Floods after heavy rains (especially after 1 Sept last year)? How close to public transport for students? How far from town/photocopiers/hospitals/schools for children/teachers' houses? What size buildings and how many could fit? Is there any features like already-built walls, small buildings etc that add to the value? Have SIM people recently looking for land seen this plot in the past and what happened then?

After that comes negotiation of price, once it gets serious there will be lawyers checking that there’s no pitfalls like co-owners refusing to sell, forged documents, government requirements that need to be met since was given/sold to the owners for a specific purpose, land’s already been sold, etc.

Joel, our Director, has been through this so many times in the last few months … and we need to get moving if we want to have a place for students arriving next August. Even if it’s by faith: so far we have a project approved and about to open, but no funds. We need to raise about $A 80,000 for land, and at least another $220,000 for building costs, so appreciate your prayers. As it is, I’m having fun looking at options for designing climate-adapted buildings using as much local materials as possible, and look forward to the help of an Irish architectural team.

The room's not spinning, it's swinging...

Saw a higher-level specialist last week who assured me 'everything will come good' after another night of ringing in the ears, the right side of head feeling stuffed with cotton wool, and the room swinging around me like one of those pirate ship rides bringing nausea. Apparently my hearing is OK, and he doesn't see anything, so I'm back on medication 'for the dizziness', one of which is a gingko bilboa extract.

After a few days the wild dizziness was reduced to my now-normal-for-2-months totteriness, the other symptoms stayed (as they have for 2 months of being treated by 2 GPs and now 2 local specialists), and we went overseas for an email consultation.

Many emails and involving people later we are ready to talk to the medical insurance people because the advice is to have an immediate MRI, which isn't available in Burkina. When we get their response I'll get back to you.