Now Where Were We...

Hello again everyone!

It has been quite a while since we have sent out an update, and we have a lot of stuff to talk about.

The last time we talked was back in December, right after Richard and myself finished the third implementation trip to Burere. There has been a lot of activity in Burere in the last 9 months, so that is where we will begin our journey. Upon the restart of classes in January, we started to plan our next implementation trip in April/May to put the roof on the school (if you don't remember, the concrete ring beam was put into place in December). We once again turned to Richard Elliott to guide us through the process of how to build the trusses and put the roof on the building. Richard was traveling back to Tanzania in March with Dr. Michael Zaretsky of VLOP and some students from UC. The plan was for Richard to create a mock-up of one of the trusses, so that when the implementation crew arrived in April, a "cookie cutter" pattern of the truss would be ready to be used and streamline construction of the roof. Richard was successful in this regard, and sent us a picture of the completed truss.

Truss built in March

 Yeah, it's pretty big. And 13 of them will be placed on top of the ring beam.
   Next big event for Burere was the 4th implementation trip in April. Selected to go on this trip was Justin Thompson, Sean Buchanon, John Wynn, Matthew Menche, Devin Metzger, and Richard Elliot. Unfortunately since I was not on the trip, I can not give you day by day updates on construction. Matt was able to send me some photos of the trip, so those will have to do to describe events that occurred.

Construction Team and Kingigoro Students

Putting Trusses in place

Moving the truss into place

                                                                                                                                       

Drilling holes for the bolts

At the end of the trip, all 13 trusses were in place and 2/3 of the roof was complete. Our trusty contractor Julius completed the roof for us over the summer. Then in August we received some pictures of the completed roof. It looks absolutely amazing.

 A job well done by all those involved! Then a few weeks later, Rosie sent us a picture of the school, with classes in session! To say we were excited would be the understatement of the year. 

Julius (right) helping to officially open up the school.

We still have a few things left on the school to complete, but since the main structure is complete, EWB-UC will now begin to focus the majority of our attention on raising funds for the Nyambogo Water Project.

 A very big thank you to those who have supported us throughout this incredible journey. Jay, Julie, and Jason at THP Limited for there work on the design, Richard Elliott for traveling with every team to build the school and lending us his experience working in the area, Emily Roush Elliott for helping us begin implementation, being there to guide us through the building process, and for letting us steal Richard when we traveled, Dr. Lewis and VLOP for helping us through this long process, and to all the students and faculty at UC who played a part in the Burere Schoolhouse Project. Thank You!

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!)