Baccalauréat · Série F · Anglais — 2024

Text — The house that was built twice

Ousmane had saved for eleven years before he started building. He bought the plot, then the cement, then the iron bars, each time as the money came. He did not employ an engineer; a neighbour who had worked on many sites drew the plan on a sheet of paper, and the work began.

The first rainy season revealed the problem. Water collected against the back wall, because nobody had checked how the ground sloped. By the third year, cracks had appeared above the windows, and one corner of the building had settled several centimetres. The foundations were too shallow for that soil.

Ousmane had to demolish half of his house and rebuild it. The repair cost him more than the original construction, and he lost two more years. He now says, with a smile that costs him something, that the cheapest part of a building is the study you decide not to pay for.

His story is common. In many towns, houses rise without any soil test, without drainage and without control. The materials are usually good; what is missing is knowledge. And knowledge, unlike cement, cannot be bought bag by bag when the money arrives.