Brick Making Begins in Burere

On Monday, we visited the Burere site to train the community on the making of the ISSB brick that will become the walls of the future school building.  Our partner, Village Life Outreach Project, has previously used the ISSB (short for Interlocking Stabilized Soil Block) in the construction of the Roche Health Center.  Village Life has allowed us to borrow the press, which they purchased for building projects in the Shirati area, for use in the Burere project.  We owe them a thank you for not only allowing us to use the press, but for helping arrange the training for the Burere Village members.  The Burere project is a part of a larger Village Life initiative to spread ISSB technology through the Shirati area.

  

The series of pictures below were taken during the training and have been arranged to show the steps as they were shown to us.  The training was led by Daniel who is also our translator.  When the press was originally purchased, he traveled to Nairobi to be trained by Makiga (the press manufacturer).  After the day of training, a crew of Burere Village members took over the ISSB making process and has continued to manufacture bricks for the past few days.

Clear and level a space for the press to operate

Bolt the press to the platform and oil the moving parts

Sieve the soil for the bricks

Mix the soil with cement (at about 11 parts soil and 1 part cement)

Add water and mix thoroughly

Place the mixed soil and cement into the mold and level it off

Close the press over the soil

Pull to compress the brick

Eject the brick by pulling the handle back

I will be visiting the site tomorrow to check in on the brick making process.  The training went very well and I expect to see some solid progress in Burere tomorrow.

A Long Day of Zege and a Job Well Done

The construction team after a long day

Yesterday evening, around 6, a tired crew posed for a picture at the Kingigoro Primary school site.  5 EWB   members, 2 Village Life mentors, and a large group of employees and volunteers from the Burere Village had been working for 8 long days to see this moment.  The foundation of a new 2 classroom building was dug, formed and poured.  Everyone was exhausted and dirty from a day of concrete mixing, placing and finishing. An amazing 64,000 pounds worth of concrete had been placed by hand in a single day.  

Emily and Freddie tying rebar

If you've been following the blog, you know most of the steps leading up to yesterday's work.  I left off a few days ago with finishing the boxes which would become the footings under the columns and tying the rebar.  Once the bar was tied, we cut all of the excavated boxes to fit them.  On Saturday, we put all of the bar in the excavated boxes and tied the reinforcing bar for the strip footings which will support the brick walls.  This took some work, as everything needed to be placed 3" above the soil in order for it to be completely surrounded by concrete.  After all of the steel was in place, we lowered in the forms which our carpenter, Sakai, and Kelsey had been working on.  Everything fit well and looked great.

On Sunday, we worked with only three volunteers.  The task of the day was squaring and leveling the forms so that the final foundation would be straight and flat.  The day went a little longer than expected, but one full day of work saw our forms nearly completed and looking great.  We also had some visitors from the hill behind the school who were interested in what we were up to.  A troop of baboons came down onto some large boulders to watch us work.  Zach has some great pictures of them, unfortunately I do not.

Measuring and discussing before mixing concrete began

Then came the big day, zege (Kiswahili for concrete)!  A large task was at hand and would take all of our volunteers, hired fundis and students.  We needed to mix 90 bags of cement weighing 50 kg apiece with over  120 wheel barrows of stone and over 50 wheel barrows of sand to get to our 16.25 cubic yard goal.  The work was backbreaking and hot.  We managed to finish half of the job before lunch and completed the other after.  The total day, including lunch break, lasted from 8 am until 6 pm.  Everything went smoothly, besides the inevitable soreness and exhaustion.  The Burere community now has a foundation upon which EWB, Village Life and the community will continue to build.

Zach, Kelsey and Otoke finishing concrete

The challenging logistics of creating the foundation became more and more apparent each day on site.  The team worked hard and kept going despite long days under a hot sun.  The community provided two shifts of volunteers each day of work and all of them worked hard as well.  Our general contractor, Julius, had originally given us a quote for 18 days of work.  We managed, to his amazement, complete the task in less than half that many days.  The whole work team worked like crazy and the results were phenomenal.  The team should be in Nairobi resting as I type this blog post.  Tomorrow, they should be going on a short safari in Nairobi National Park before boarding their flight home to USA tomorrow evening.  They were a great group and I wish them safe travels over the next few days.

A big thanks goes out to everyone who made this possible starting with the EWB travel team.  Also thanks to our travel mentor team of Richard and Emily Elliott who guided us through all 8 days of work.  We could not have made it here without the help of the EWB design team and mentors Tom Bible, Julie Cromwell and Jason Jones.  Also, thanks is due for our donor partners who make the whole project happen through generosity.  

Hard Work Paying Off: Building Footprint Visible

Everyone hard at work digging

You have not heard from us the past few days because we have either been at work or exhausted from working!  We've been making some amazing progress on the foundation digging, rebar bending, and form building.  Since beginning our dig on Monday, the place that used to be a few stakes is now a massive excavation, several feet deep in some places, soon to be filled with a new concrete foundation.  The Burere Village has been coming out, in solid numbers, every day of work.  The volunteer labor which is the community contribution to the project is becoming an extremely valuable asset as we keep moving ahead.

Andrew and the rebar cutting/bending ream hard at work

On Tuesday, the story was the same.  More digging!  The main focus was a 6 foot wide strip around the edge of the footprint which will allow us to level and form all of our footings without needing to level the entire area inside the building.  We also had Sakai, our carpenter, create boards from which we ran string to mark the various footing edges.  Tuesday was also the start of rebar work and Andrew did an excellent job of starting the cutting and bending.  Richard, Julius, Village Life's employee Rose, and I also visited Tarime, a larger city about two hours away, to order the remaining supplies which were needed for the site.  Tarime took most of the day, and we ended up picking up the EWB team once they had finished work for the day on our way back to Shirati.

School and work let out at the same time, some kids came over to see our excavation

Wednesday saw another round of digging (common theme for the whole week).  This time, we strung the strip footing which runs all the way around the perimeter and will support the bricks in the final building.  Once we had properly measured it, we dug a rough trench all the way around the building.  The rebar team was working well with Andrew and hit their stride on Wednesday, making several of the rebar grids which will be the reinforcing for the large footers under the columns.  The site began to take shape and the base of the future walls was now clearly visible!  Julius led the pouring of a small pad, which will serve as our concrete mixing station when we get to that point.

The foundation is taking shape

Today, we continued our dig (kept to the theme).  This time saw the marking and leveling of the footings which will support the columns.  Zach and I measured the proper spacing and set a form in the position so that they could be dug.  Richard and Justin followed after and made sure the bottom of the excavation was level.  That led to quite a deep dig at the deepest corner, several feet deep to get to a level bottom!  Rebar continued strong and most of the rebar for the column footings were completed.  We began the stirrups, which will hold the vertical bars at the right spacing.  That was an interesting process, which involved driving some rebar through a 4x4 piece of lumber to create a form around which rebar would be bent.  The box forms, which will form the top half of the strip footing, began to take shape and all four corner pieces are already done.

Staying safe while making stone

While the team has been working, there have been many other things going on.  All around the site, there are people making stone for the large aggregate of the concrete.  One man, who began working diligently Monday, has nearly built a fort in the bushes behind the work site.  Our storekeepers are also constantly checking equipment for working and for safety.  Each delivery from Tarime is carefully counted and documented.  A big thanks to Walsh Construction for the donation of all of the safety supplies as well.  The whole construction site is full of people in hard hats, gloves, safety glasses, and vests.  We are by far the safest construction site in the entire Rorya district.

Justin and Otienu leveling a footing

Keep an eye on the blog.  I apologize for a three day break and I will try to get more frequent posts up!  The team is tired, but still in high spirits.  Everyone has stepped up to the plate when it comes to working.  It certainly shows when you consider that we are 4 days in and the building foundation shape is already visible.

Trying on some rebar for size

Day One of Construction: Excavation

Getting to work looking over plans and materials orders

The EWB team arrived safely in Shirati Friday night, with their driver George, just in time for dinner.  It is the first time all of the students have been to Africa, so even after a long trip there was visible excitement.  Everyone grabbed a quick dinner and took some time to get acclimated before getting to bed to prepare for day one.

Day one for the team in Shirati was a tour of the town, a short hike to see the lake, and a visit to the Village Life leadership program.  The leadership program brought leaders from all three of Village Life's partner communities, two of which are EWB-UC partner communities.  The program went very well and we all adjourned around 1 pm for lunch at the Motel 2000, where the event was held.   The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and settling in.  Adjusting to a new timezone, especially one seven hours ahead, can be an exhausting challenge.

The EWB team surveying the foundation Sunday

The second full day on the ground, Sunday, the team trekked out to Village Life's Roche Health Center to get a look at what the Burere school building will look like when it is done.  If you have not had a chance to see the pictures of the Roche Health Center, check out the Village Life website and the blog which details construction of the Health Center.  After a visit to the Health Center, we broke for lunch then traveled to Burere for a short meeting and to survey the site and place string around the foundation outline.  The meeting went very well and we were able to talk specific construction logistics including materials storage, location of sand we could use, breaking of stone, and the roles of volunteers in the morning.  After the short meeting, we went to the site for a brief survey so that the community could clear the sod before our arrival in the morning.

Now that all of the logistics were handled and the meetings done, we were ready to dig on Monday!  After another night of rest, the team piled into the van with our translator, Daniel, and general contractor, Julius.  It was an exciting trip for everyone, over three years of work was about to be realized in a day of hard work.

The entire community seemed to show up for work!

Upon our arrival, we were met by over one hundred community members!  Shaking hands took some time, we had to work our way to the school site through the community.  Once there, we introduced the Burere Fundi's (construction experts) to Julius.  We hired two, Otoke and Otienu, to be the leaders of the volunteers from Burere.  Shortly after this business was handled, excavation began.  EWB members and Burere Village volunteers worked a full day to get the rough outline and depth of the foundation done.  It was quite an experience, and the whole team is sore and weary.

Hard at work on the foundation excavation

Keep checking the blog for pictures and updates.  We should have another post up tomorrow or Wednesday!  Everyone here is excited to keep working and we're prepared for several more days of hard work.  Thanks again to all the students, faculty and members that made this possible.  I also want to thank our donors and partners, especially Village Life and SHED.

A meeting of the Fundis (from left to right: Zach, Julius, Otoke, translator Daniel, Justin, Jim, Otienu)

Breaking Ground in Burere

Today was the highly anticipated groundbreaking of the Burere Village’s new 2 classroom building at the Kingigoro primary school.  The event marked a major milestone of a long journey of work by UC engineering students, our mentors from THP, UC, and Village Life, and the generous contributions from our donors.  The patience of the Burere people, our partners, and our students is showing some significant steps now as we prepare to begin excavation at the site Monday.

Richard and Jim at the Burere committee meeting

To begin our day at Burere, we held a meeting to discuss the construction plans and the role of each party involved in the project.  Video and more pictures are coming shortly upon the Village Life team’s return to the USA.  We discussed the road and the leveling of the site which are major community contributions to the construction.  The road, we were told, has already been repaired and the site will be leveled per our markings starting tomorrow.  This was an excellent sign; the community had already begun to mobilize before our arrival and was eager to begin the long awaited construction.  Once the meeting was over and the discussions concluded, the district representative, the acting village chairman, Manaen Kawira of SHED, and I signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the responsibilities of our respective parties.

The Burere groundbreaking ceremony

The event was attended by members of our Cincinnati-based partners, Village Life, including the founder, Dr. Chris Lewis, and the Executive Director and Burere Travel Mentor, Richard Elliott.  Another major partner who attended was the Shirati Health, Education and Development Foundation, (SHED), represented by the chairman of the board, Manaen Kawira.  The other leaders in the groundbreaking team were a representative from the Rorya district’s education office, the acting chairman of the Burere Village, and me. 

The EWB travel team is en route and should be landing in Nairobi shortly.  Tomorrow, they will make the long road from Nairobi, Kenya to Shirati, Tanzania.  I expect to see a happy, but travel-weary crew tomorrow evening for dinner.  I hope they are eager to experience a new country and continent which includes a unique people and culture.  I also hope they are ready to get their hands dirty and get some concrete in for the foundation! 

Getting started in Tanzania

EWB travelers are on their way to Shirati, Tanzania for the construction of the new classrooms at the Kingigoro primary school in Burere as I type this update.  Traveling with them is Emily Elliott, who was a major part of the construction of Village Life’s Roche Health Center.  I am ahead of the group working on logistics with our partners, the Shirati Health, Education, a Development Foundation (SHED) and Village Life Outreach Project (VLOP).  We are hard at work preparing for the groundbreaking tomorrow and the beginning of construction this coming Monday.  A few other updates follow as well as a few sneak peek pictures from the work so far. 

So far, the Village Life team and I have been very busy since our arrival in Shirati Monday night.  Yesterday we visited the village of Roche and were able to see a day of the functioning Roche Health Center (picture at right).  It’s exciting to know that, in just a few short days, we will be starting construction on an equally impressive building in Burere.  We received word that our plans were well-received by the village, our partners at SHED and also the Rorya District government during a meeting with SHED leadership Tuesday morning.  Our partners at SHED have been working hard and have visited Burere and the district government offices to discuss our approval and the upcoming construction. All indications are that everyone is excited and that the community has already begun preparing the site!

Today was equally busy.  Dr. Chris Lewis, the founder of VLOP, and I traveled to the district offices with a few SHED members to meet several officers and discuss projects including the Burere school.  The project and the efforts of EWB and VLOP were very well-received by all of the people we met there.  Many of the officers were also very happy to know that we are bringing some new skills to the region through education.  After the trip to the district, we traveled to Nyambogo to meet with the committees there (picture at left).  The new water catchment system, implemented by VLOP this past winter, was up and running.  There are a few issues with it, but we are planning to address those in the next few weeks while Richard Elliott (our travel mentor and VLOP Executive Director) and I are in the area.  Overall, the system looked great and the community was interested in its expansion.  The community was also happy to hear that there will be a survey of the area for possible borehole locations during my time here this summer.

We were also able to make our first purchase of materials for construction today.  While Dr. Lewis and I were meeting with the district leadership, Richard and the rest of the VLOP team were in Tarime.  There they were able to buy all of our reinforcing bars and 75 bags of cement to be delivered to the Burere site early next week.  It is so exciting to see the first purchase of materials occur.  To finally be constructing the building we have been working on for several years is a great feeling; I am looking forward to our first meeting with Burere of this trip tomorrow.  Stay posted for details!