When I took the optional retirement from the company 10 years ago, I decided to do a major home improvement project. That is, to renovate the old family house that my beloved parents built some 14 years after the end of WW 2. In those days, my parents who were both day laborers were struggling very hard to provide food for the table and to put us children to school, meaning me and my other siblings. That was their top priority, the house was secondary for as long as we have a roof over our head. My siblings and I grew up in this old family house so there were a lot of memories in this old house. Some were bad as that is part of a dysfunctional family but mostly good in spite of our being dirt poor. When I started the project around the last days of August in 2001, I knew that I didn't have enough money to finish my project but I went ahead with it anyway. I drew my inspiration from a certain part of the Bible that said "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me..." and "God will provide for our needs....". So armed with these positive outlook in life, I began the saga of renovating the old family house. Houses were built very closely with each other around this neighborhood which is why it's difficult to take a good shot of everything. Here are some pics of the old house anyway.
That's my second nephew Jasper 10 years ago cleaning the footpath. On the left side was my late mom's garden and on the right side was the old house.
That's Jason, my eldest nephew cleaning up my late mom's garden. The house behind the garden belongs to another neighbor.
That's my sister-in-law Emy with her children cleaning up the garden near the house so we can have some space for the new materials.
Ooops! Jasper slacking on the job. He got tired from helping out with the cleaning of the garden.
This is the taken from the footpath and looking down to the end of the stairs. Notice the neighbor's house closeby just behind the children. Jason, my eldest nephew and Jasper the second nephew, Jessica the only girl and Jim, my third nephew. John the youngest was still a baby then so he wasn't in this picture.
This is a shot of the right side of the house at the end of the footpath. Behind Jim is a door that leads to the first floor downstairs which was being rented out to a family friend. It was a small two-storey house with hollow blocks on the bottom and corrugated tin on the second floor.
Jason and Jessica at the entrance to the second floor which is near the top of the stairs or footpath.
The roof with my nephew Jim peeking over the concrete fence.
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