Second Burere Implementation Trip Complete

Second implementation team, including EWB-UC travelers and community members

After two weeks of construction in Burere, the columns are poured and the bricks are being laid for the two-room school building.  Early last week, we removed the formwork from the columns and began laying the ISSBs (Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks).  By the time of the EWB-UC travel team's departure from the site, the entire first row of bricks had been leveled and mortared.  The community in Burere, with the help from our contractor, will be finishing the ISSB walls in the next few weeks.  The next implementation phase will include the ring beam followed by the roof implementation.

Travel mentor, Richard Elliott, stripping formwork

Columns with the formwork removed

Otiendo and Jim laying the first bricks at the site

Southeast corner of the building with the first brick courses

I would like to thank Village Life Outreach Project (http://www.villagelifeoutreach.org) for their mentorship (Richard Elliott and Emily Roush Elliott) and their continued partnership on this project.

As we begin the fall semester at UC, we look forward to continuing the progress we made this summer and look to have another successful year.  As a reminder, our first general meeting will be this Thursday (8/30) at 6 PM in 3250 CRC.

Columns Set and Poured For School in Burere

Overview of the columns being poured

This week the community in Burere and the EWB-UC travel team assembled, leveled, and poured all 19 columns for the two-room Kinigoro Primary School expansion.  Earlier in the week travel mentor Richard Elliott worked with the carpenters on site to construct the formwork, while student travelers Jim Moyer and Ben Gentry assisted the community volunteers with the bending and binding of the reinforcement bar.  Once all of the rebar cages were assembled and placed on the dowels from the foundation, the forwork was added and leveled, and ready for concrete.

Head contractor, Julius, and other community volunteers binding the rebar cages

Richard coordinating the form work construction

For the last two days, a dedicated concrete team measured, mixed, and poured each of the 19 columns by hand. All together, 5 cubic yards of concrete were used to pour the columns.  After taking a well deserved day off today, the community and travel team will begin laying the ISSB blocks this weekend and early next week.  Stay tuned for a post next week with the final progress for the second phase of implementation.

Jim and community members mixing concrete

Jim running through some on-the-go calculations with Julius on some scrap wood

Otiendo pouring concrete into the column

Ben shortly after vibrating the box by hand to settle the concrete

Ben with future beneficiaries of this project

EWB-UC travel team and community workers in front of the site

Burere School Second Implementation Phase Kicks-off

Second EWB-UC implementation team after the first day of work on site.

Jim Moyer mid stroke.

Travel mentor, Richard Elliott, coordinating column formwork

During the first day on the ground in Tanzania, the EWB-UC travel team (Jim Moyer, Ben Gentry, and Richard Elliott) traveled to Tarime to order materials and purchase new equipment--enough to fill a 7-ton truck!  The order included 50 bags of cement, 40 pieces of reinforcing bar, and nearly 300 pieces of lumber for forms.

On Day 2, the team made it's first trip to the project site in Burere, where we were met by a large group from the community eager to continue construction.  The team broke into groups, cutting the rebar (#3 and #6 bar) by hand, making ISSB's, and putting together the form work for the columns. After a long day under the equatorial sun, we had all the rebar cut and 2 of the 19 column boxes assembled.  Our goal is to completely assemble the corner columns of the building, so we can begin pouring the columns in stages early next week.  We have already made great progress and we are looking forward to completing another successful phase of implementation.

Keep up with the blog in the coming two weeks for updates and pictures as we continue construction in Burere.

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.