Just to Bring You Up to Speed...

Sorry for the delay in posting an update, we lost power in Shirati for a while.

Let us start with what occurred on Friday. Friday was a much slower day than hoped, with most of the day spent finishing formwork, putting bolts into place, and beginning to straighten some of the corners. Since our rebar crew was out of work, they began moving the aggregate into position near the mixing pad. We worked hard until 430, then had a meeting to discuss options for pouring concrete on Saturday. Julius believed it would take 12 hours to pour. We toyed with the idea of working til nightfall to straighten and level the formwork, but then decided we would end up making more errors than progress with everyone being exhausted. On the ride back to the hostel, we toyed with ideas to see if we could pour zege on Saturday, since no one really wanted to pour on Sunday. I believed it would only take 5-6hrs to pour, so we decided that we would pour at night if necessary. Julius, Daniel and Sakai went to Shirati that night and rented a generator, lights and cables in preparation to pour at night. That concluded a long day five and we hit the hay soon after dinner.

This was it. Day six. Zege day. Whether we were there til 5pm or 11pm, zege was going to be put into place one way or another. We hit the ground running with another 630am start and immediately started working our butts off once our boots were on the ground in Burere. The day started with Richard and I running a water level, getting all the marks to which we would level the formwork. Once that was done, Richard went around one side leveling and straightening formwork, while Sakai and Daniel went the other direction. While they were doing this, I continued to place bolts in there proper locations. By 11, the formwork had been leveled, and 18 of the 26 bolts were in place. At this point we started to pour zege. Richard, Otoke and another worker started in one corner while Otienu, another worker, and myself started in another. The zege crew was well versed in the process, and everything ran smoothly. After a while, I had to take a break from zege and finish putting in the bolts into position, making sure the crew didn't put zege in that area without the bolts in place. Things ran smoothly, and the zege was completed by 330.

DONE. Mission accomplished. And it only took four and a half hours to pour the beam. It required six long days of work but the third phase of the project can be checked off the list.

Sunday was a day of relaxation with trip out to Roche in the morning. In Roche, Richard did a quick inspection of the building, then we set about the main task for the trip out to Roche. We were there to take photos of the rough location for the planned doctor housing to be built on site. After the trip to Roche, we went back to Shirati, and Sakai invited us to his house for lunch. To say it was a good meal and a large one at that would be the understatement of the year. Sakai had a whole feast for us. Ugali, chapati, beef, fish, rice, mangoes, cabbage, pineapple, bananas, you get the picture. Sakai had a wonderful spread, and we ate til we were almost in a food coma. The rest of the day was spent relaxing fishing and just being lazy.

And that brings us to today. We left Shirati this morning and we are now relaxing comfortable at the Mennoite Guest House. Tomorrow we head to the market to do some shopping, then from there we board our plane in the evening for the long flights home.

Good Night and Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

A Little Different Perspective on the Trip...

Two posts in one night? I must be spoiling you.

   This post is a little bit different than any previous posts we have done for the Burere Schoolhouse Project. Most of the time you hear about the updates on how construction has been going, and what the travel team has been up to while over here in Tanzania. Most of the people who follow what we do know that it has a positive impact on the region, but they have not been able to actually make the trip. They hear the stories we tell of funny events that occur during the rest breaks, and they get to hear a few names of the people we meet. In this post, we wanted to put a face to the name, and discuss the impact we are having on a more personally note with regards to the villagers.

Deo with his daughters, Anna (left) and Sofia

   Tonight I introduce to you Deo (pronounced Day-o). Deo has been one of our hardest workers, helping me cut and bend rebar, as well as helping to put it into place. We have been able to get to know him better than some of the other crew members, since he can speak some English. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with him, and (hopefully) he has enjoyed working with us.

   This project is a little bit more than just a job for Deo and a lot of the villagers we work with on site. This is something they do for there families (both by blood and community). He actually attended school at the Kingigoro Primary School, and two of his three children do as well. Maurice is twelve years old, Anna is eight, and Sofia is four. This is something that is very humbling and exciting, knowing that some of the crew themselves went to this school and they are sending there children there as well. It makes the time and effort we put into theses projects so much more enjoyable.

Rebar Cage in Place

Good Evening from Shirati!

   Work continued into day four and I am excited to inform you that ALL of the rebar has been placed for the ring beam! While we will still have some minor adjustments to be made to the position of the cage, work is progressing ahead of schedule. The hope is to begin pouring zege on Saturday, assuming that there are no major complications. Sakai now has the formwork in place around over half of the building, and the hope is to have the remaining formwork in place by the end of the day tomorrow. Tomorrow will not see any ridiculously fast paced progress, as we will be placing the bolts for the truss, and adjusting the rebar cage and formwork. So we will be checking the elevations and clearances multiple times so come Saturday we can pour zege with confidence that everything is in place where it should be.

   This afternoon right before lunch, I decided to take a little trek up the hill over looking the school. I was able to take some amazing pictures of the school, as well as a few panoramas of Burere, which I will post once I am able to compile them together.

   The crew from Burere worked as hard as ever, allowing us to stay ahead of schedule. Even Obama, our work site clown, has been able to be helpful the past few days. He does this all while talking, despite the fact that we have no idea what he is yapping about. The crew has worked hard for the past four days, and they will get a lighter day tomorrow since the rebar is already in place.

   On another note, I believe a good thoughts should be sent Richard's way as he broke his trusty, loyal hammer yesterday while trying to split a pre-cut 4x4 into two 2x4s. He somewhat fixed the hammer by chiseling the wooden handle and sliding the head back on, as well as adding two pieces of #3 rebar and duct tape (what can duct tape not fix?) to it as well. But the hammer will never be what it once was, will be forced into early retirement, and it will be missed.

Ring Beam Beginning to Take Shape

    Day three got a bright and early start again this morning, and things started off well. We had to stop in Shirati to pick up the rest of our lumber since they were only able to deliver 2/3 of it the night before (the truck that they used to transport 100 2x4s and 10 1x8s was the size of a Chevy S10, and looked like it was about to break). After picking up the lumber, it was off to our special little hillside in Burere.

Day III progress

   Richard started the morning by helping Sakei work of formwork and bracing, while also making sure the crew placing the rebar cage into position was doing it correctly. While Richard was doing this, I was working with Deo, Michael and two others (hopefully I will know and remember all their names by the end of the week) cut and bend #6 rebar. We cut and bent a total of 15, 40ft pieces by 11am, so the day was off to a great start. I forgot to mention it last night, but our rebar crew is one well oiled machine. They cut and bent 332, 8" square stirrups in two days! So, by the end of the day all off the rebar needed for the ring beam has been cut and bent, and is now just waiting to be put into place. Sakei was his normal beastly self, working hard as ever to make sure the progress of the formwork stays on schedule.

Rebar cage in place

   The first section of rebar that we implemented on Tuesday took a little bit longer than expected, but by this afternoon the crew putting it into place seems to all be on the same page, and is running much more efficiently. This afternoon they successfully put in the cages in the corners of the building, so now over half of the rebar cages are in place. There will still be a few adjustment that need to be made  before concrete is poured, but we have been making wonderful progress.

Usiku  Mwema! (Good Night!)

Phase III Has Begun

Good Evening from Tanzania!

     Richard and I arrived in Shirati Friday evening after three full, tiring days of travel. Upon arriving in Shirati we stopped in to say hi to Dr. Esther and Josia Kawira. We then had a quick dinner and then it was time for some much needed rest.

Burere Schoolhouse

    On Saturday, we started the day by heading out to Burere to view the site and perform an inventory of what we had available supply wise, and to finally see what the building looked like after the ISSBs were finally in place. We were not disappointed, and the building looks amazing. It is pretty awesome to see so many years of hard work paying off. While in Burere, we also went down to take a look at Jim Moyer's pit latrine project, which he completed while he was on Co-op with Village Life.

SOTA Clinic

    After spending the morning and part of the afternoon in Burere, we decided we needed to see the SOTA Clinic being constructed by the one and only Julius, our contractor in the region. The building is very big, approximately 175ft by 30ft, and sits right along the shore of Lake Victoria. We also find out that the same crew in Burere that had made the bricks for the schoolhouse had been given the job of producing 15,000 ISSBs for the SOTA Clinic. It was pretty cool to see some of the construction techniques we had taught them on display at another project in the area.

Two of Julius's Children

  
On Sunday we decided it was a good day to relax and coordinate logistics and our plan of attack for the coming week. December 9th is also Tanzania's independence day, so that just made the decision easier. We began the day by hanging out with Julius, Daniel (our translator), and Sakei (our carpenter). We had breakfast and lunch at Julius's house, and then returned to Shirati in the afternoon for a meeting with SHED.

Then it was off to bed since we were going to leave Shirati at 7am.

Bracing being put into place

    On Monday we began work in Burere. We immediately had the workers start cutting and bending the #3 rebar for the stirrups (we need 332 for the ring beam), and we hit the ground running. Sakei began creating the bracing the formwork, and Richard and I ran the water level around the top to find the exact height of the bottom of the ring beam. In the afternoon I began working on the #6 rebar for the beam, and the workers and I had successfully cut and bent 8 pieces of rebar for beam.

    Tuesday we got a bright and early start (we were on the road by 620am) and the second day was off to a good start. Sakei successfully got the bottom of the box into place, constructed scaffolding, and we began placing the rebar cage into place at one end of the building. This was a very difficult task, and we spent most of the day working on getting the four pieces of #6 and the stirrups into place. Work was slower today than it was yesterday, but hopefully the pace will pick up so we can pour concrete on Saturday. Once work was completed for the day we went to Shirati to place and order for the necessary lumber for the second half of the building it ended up taking one and a half hours to order 100 2x4s, 20 1x8s, 32 1x2s, 8 1x6's and 12 1x4's.

The day has finally come to an end and progress is being made on the third phase of the project.

Good Night! (or Good Afternoon for those 8 hours behind us)

Construction Continues!

It is once again a very exciting time for Engineers Without Borders - University of Cincinnati. Project leader Zach Banachowski and mentor Richard Elliott of Village Life Outreach Project departed today to continue construction of the school in Tanzania. Stay tuned for an update from them once they arrive!

December's EWBer of the Month

Allison Bosworth is a fifth-year Interior Design student who will be graduating this spring. She has been a member of EWB since the fall of 2007 and has maintained an active role in the group since joining. This is Allison's third year being the Design Chair for EWB-UC. Throughout the duration of her executive position Allison has designed numerous T-shirts, fliers, invitations, social media promotions, project posters, and corporate donation letters. She is also the only senior still actively serving on the executive board. Due to Allison's extensive involvement, unyielding dedication, and excellent design work, the executive board has chosen to recognize her this December as the EWBer of the Month!