Week 15

This week we have made great improvements on the work site! The week began by starting the roof while also finishing the very last part of the middle earth wall. Last tampering moments!

We went for our meeting in Himo to collect the enclosure panels made out of basketry pattern. Surprisingly, when we arrived Mr. John, the fundi, had only done two of them and with another shape. There had been a misunderstanding of the work and we had to explain again the measurements of the panels and rearrange the contract.

The carpenters started building the wooden trusses on the floor and preparing them to be lifted up. They have been also helping building the pillars, which consist on two wooden lathes that are joint on the bottom by a metallic piece cemented to the floor and on the top are receiving the wooden truss. Once the trusses were finished, they were lifted up and the wooden battens were placed over them. When the wooden structure was completely finished the metal sheets were put on top.

While working in the heights we have also been working on the floor. The floor work has to be done in different days according to the different spaces (reading room, multipurpose room and verandah) and following different phases; there is a first layer of concrete and a second layer of soft cement. The verandah bench top surface is built with the same procedure as the floor, but a formwork was sometines used to keep the orthogonal angle. In general cement flooring is a task that takes a while and sometimes the work lasted until late in the evening.

We have also made some advances regarding the cypress doors and the backside wall of the bookshelves, which has been covered by pieces of rejected wood.

On Sunday we were invited by Priscus to his home with his family. We had a drink together and enjoyed delicious mtori (Tanzanian banana soup) until it got dark. On the way home we ended up in an anniversary party in Kimanyatu dancing with all the high motivated teenagers.

The week included a little heartbreaking surprise…Imani. Primli was walking to the shop to buy a drink when on the way he heard a cry inside an abandoned house. He followed the sound and what he found was a small and lonely baby crying and wrapped in clothes. Saddly the baby had been abandoned…but thankfully he was warmly welcome by Primli´s lovely family as a new member.

Women planting maize at Mr Matolis farm, for it to grow during the oncoming rainy season

Mr. John came up with an original shape for the pannels!

The beautiful hexagonal bamboo pattern

Building the trusses on the floor

Mr Godfred and Mr Babaflower cutting, piercing and fixing together the wooden pillars

Anatoli and Primli barefoot mixing concrete for the floor

Buckets of concrete are brought to the room while the fundi tampers and flatens the surface

Primli building a new sieve to filter the sand for the soft cement layer of the floor, which needs to be very fine

The trusses are lifted and placed on top of the concrete beam

The battens come over the trusses and the metal sheets will be nailed to them

The wooden pilar receiving the truss

The carpenters fixing the frame for the cypress doors

It it not as easy as it firstly seemed to join together the woven structure together with the frame

 

Measuring and readjusting the cypress sticks

Overview of the library when placing the metal sheets

The pieces of rejected wood are nailed to the backside of the bookshelf

On Sunday morning the cowchildren visit the site and help us watering the floor