After some stressing days at the end of the project, we are happy to announce that the library was happily inaugurated with all the children, teachers, workers, and friends.
Overall it was a fantastic experience, we have learned many things and we hope the others also learned with us.
Here there is a link to the description, plans and pictures:
https://www.archdaily.com/882462/amani-library-social-practice-architecture?ad_medium=gallery
The last week of work has started and there are so many things to do!
On Monday, Patricia and Mr. Matoli start the trip to Himo to collect the bamboo panels. Hopefully they are finished and we can carry them to the project site. They are so big that we have to use the truck of our friend Elli to transport them. It was an endless story to get them, but finally they are here and are certainly beautiful!
The other endless story, the cypress doors… One of the two carpenters has given up and only the other one shows up to give it a second try. Luckily the new method he uses seems to be working well and in a few hours we can see great progress. Instead of trying to fit the webbed inside the wooden frames, he starts making the frames and afterwards he adjusts inside the cypress branches, one by one.
On the site, the workers continue making the soft floor and the carpenters continue fixing the roof. This week there are always many people on the site and many things happenning at the same time. There is no time for resting, not even a second, but it is also nice to see the project going forward. We divide ourselves to be always supervising but also taking care of small things like decoration and landscaping. Mr. Matoli has a wonderful nursery garden at home with many kind of trees and smaller plants, so one day we takes us there and we choose some of them to plant around the library. From now on there will even an avocado tree in front of the building! Hopefully next time to come to Kibaoni we can sit under its shadow.
On Thursday we receive the visit of Mashambo, the engineer from the district. He is really enthusiastic with the project and is convinced to implement the techniques we are using in his own village. Together with him, we write a letter for the district officers to invite them to the opening ceremony on Monday.
Our last weekend in Kibaoni, as expected, is very busy. We spend a lot of time on the site cleaning everything but we also go to visit some friends and start packing our things. Actually we are pleased to be so busy, otherwise it would be too sad to think of leaving this wonderful place that we have loved so much since the first day we stepped out of the daladala down on the road.
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.
The week 14 starts with great news; there is water again at the school! This is particular good now since we are planning to build the concrete beam this week, and it needs a lot of water.
On Monday morning Mr. Matoli comes with Kimaroro, a man from the village who is supposed to be able to build the cypress doors. Unfortunately after explaining the pattern to him, he admitts he can’t but at least he will provide us with the material needed which is collected in a forest up in the mountain. A few days later another two men come and this time they are confident to be able to make the webbing.
At the same time we continue on our research of how to make the baskets. It seems that every body who knew how to make them in the village have passed away and never passed the knowledge to another person. We try to make them ourselves but it is more difficult than expected. Finally, Mr. Matoli comes with the idea of going to Himo, a village one hour away from Kibaoni where he thinks we can find “fundis” who know how to make them. We go with him to Himo on Friday and luckily we find a man who knows the technique. Our idea was bringing him home for a few days so he could also teach us but he doesn’t want to leave his home and finally we arrange to come back next week to collect the panels. It is incredible but we seem to be one step closer to get it!
On the site, after Priscus the carpenter finishes the shelves, we are ready to start the wall in the middle, the last rammed earth wall of the library. We place the formwork with the two shelves as side walls and start tampering. In this last wall we have decided to change a little bit the method. Instead of using the climber formwork in order to make the wall as one continued thing, we will use the traditional way in which you put metal rods every time you move the formwork up. In this way, we will take advantage of the wholes made by the metal rods to place shelves afterwards.
After preparing the metal reinforcement, we also start pouring concrete inside the wooden formworks on top of the walls to build the concrete beam all along the perimeter of the library. This week we have also hired a new carpenter called Godfred. He is busy cutting the wood and shoftening it to prepare it to build the pillars in the next days.
On Wednesday we are invited to a party organised by the chief of the cookers. We enjoy the evening playing cards and drinking local beer and on Sunday, our cookers and friends Kimweli and Evagre bring their families home and we enjoy a dinner all together. Slowly we are getting to know more deeply the people of the village and we are making really good friends. We are so happy that every body are so welcoming and nice to us. Life in Kibaoni is just great.
The dry season is coming to an end and before the rainy season starts, we are having big problems to get the water we need to continue building. On Monday the deposit at the school was completely dry so we could only work half day, preparing the mixes and small things for the next days. At the same time and although it sounds nonsense, it rained during the whole day. Fortunately we had covered all the walls with plastic sheets.
On Tuesday the situation with the water had not improved, but the workers decided to find water no matter how and after asking around in different places they found water up in the river and they brought it from there.
At the end of the week we decided to go with Mr. Matoli to Tarakea to visit the Division Officer and Kiliwater Office and complain about the water problem, as there is no way to continue with the works without water. After exposing our arguments, they promised us that the next day in the afternoon we would have water and luckily on Saturday water finally arrived at the school.
On the site, after destroying the cob wall we have decided to build the middle wall with rammed earth and shelves for books. This week the carpenter built them and we placed them inside the library. We finally finished tampering all the walls of the perimeter and only the middle wall is remaining.
In the meanwhile, Primli has been working on the overfundation for the verandah and the bench, placing the stones and the cement. We have also placed the formwork to pour the mixture for the two columns of the main facade.
About the basketry, we continued on our mission to find somebody who knows how to weave the baskets but it seems that there is no one around who can help us. We also tried ourselves to destroy some baskets and continue the pattern but it is not that easy.
On Sunday we went to Kimaniatu village and we met Primli´s family. They were very nice and welcome and we enjoyed the visit very much.
The week 12 began with several visits to the site. Gabriel, a journalist from Morogoro came to make us a small interview about the project. We answered several questions about the purpose, the budget, the technique and the materials used.
Immediately after, we met Ambri and Mr. John. Ambri is a man from the village who was supposed to know how to weave baskets. Together with Mr. John and Mr. Matoli, we went to a bamboo forest located 15 minutes walking from our house. We had never known that there was such a forest so close to our place. The forest belonged to Mr. John. With the help of the rest of the workers, we selected and cut the most suitable pieces for weaving and brought them home.
The next day Ambri came with a friend to start weaving the panels for the verandah. The first panel was not as expected, since they used a different pattern as the one we wanted. Unfortunately, they did not succeed and after some trials we decided to change the strategy. Instead of building the panels from zero, we would buy the baskets, destroy them and rebuild them again.
This week we also decided to destroy the cob wall. It was not an easy decision, but after seeing the results of building with cob and with rammed earth, we thought cob was working worse in our case and it was slowing down the construction work a lot.
We also received the visit of Mashambo, the district engineer. As always, he gave us good advise about the construction of the library. This time he came with the sub-director of the school, who also gave us many clues mostly about children behaviour, something to take into account when building next to a school.
On Thursday we started preparing the metal rods to build the pillars. In this case, we want to use a different technique similar to rammed earth. It is called cast earth and it consists on pouring a mixture similar to the one used for rammed earth inside a wooden formwork but with a higher percentage of cement. In this way tampering is not necessary, something that would be really difficult for such a small surface and with all the reinforcement inside. The workers prepared the metal rods and in the meanwhile, we made several tests with the small formwork we used to use for the earth tests to find the best proportions of sand, soil and cement.
On Monday we woke up with a foggy day and with the children back to school after some days of holidays. As almost every day, during the morning we were tampering. In the evening we organized a big party at home to celebrate Farid´s birthday. All our friends came along and we enjoyed dancing reggae music until late in the night.
We have finished the last section of one of the corners and after letting it dry we moved the formwork to the other corner. To reinforce the corners we have put some metal rods with “C” shape that connect the wall with the concrete beam that will come on top of it. We have finished the frontal wall and repaired some details from other walls from last weeks.
We have made some tests on cast earth; the technique that we will be using for the columns. The technique is similar to rammed earth but increasing the percentage of cement and making a more liquid mixture, avoiding tampering so hard. We made several tests with different mixtures. Some of the mixtures had too much cement and as result the final colour was too grey.
On Thursday we were invited to the graduation party in Kibaoni Primary School. Students from Standard 7 got graduated and the celebration was a nice show with dances, songs, theatre, drinks and food.
For the weekend we went for a short safari to Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, having the chance of disconnecting for some days, immersing ourselves in other completely different landscapes. We saw many beautiful animals, some of them really near!
This week we have increased the number of formworks up to 4 in order to be able to build different walls at the same time. We have also ordered new wooden tampers. The week started finishing one of the walls and placing the formworks on of the next corner. The rest of the week mainly consisted on tampering and moving the formworks up. The carpenter finished the door frame and two other windows, leaving the last wall ready to be built.
The metal pieces that will be the basement for the wooden pillars have been ordered at Kimarios metal place and hopefully next week we will be having a sample of one of them.
Fortunately during the whole week we have being receiving visit of many children extremely motivated to help us with the works; sieving sand, filling buckets, etc. Junia (commonly called “Alfredo”), our best company, is always trying to help us even visiting us even on weekends and enjoying the day with us.
On Sunday morning we relaxed with some yoga exercises. After we went for a walk up the mountains and to drink a beer altogether to the Disco Pub in Kibaoni, turning the place into a real party where we all danced and laughed out loud.
The week started with a visit to the local market in Tarakea, which takes place every Monday and Thursday. The whole area turns into a busy place full of stands of vegetables, clothes, etc
On Tuesday we had a meeting with the teachers from the school, to catch up with the progress of the project and see the way students and teachers themselves can help and get involved. We will have to wait until next week to arrange some plans because from Wednesday and for ten days they will be on holidays.
We have made some research on local handcraft. By destroying a local bamboo basket we have tried to understand the pattern that is followed; a triaxial weave that creates hexagons. The purpose is to be able to replicate it for the enclosure of the verandah (terrace).
On the project site, before continuing with the upper levels of the rammed earth walls we had to insert in the windows the horizontal metal bars, placed every 15 cm for security reasons. The pieces of metal rod are cut and hammered from one of the sides and into the holes. In some cases the metal rods are substituted by wooden shelves for storage. To be able to speed up with the works, we have built another formwork for the rammed earth wall and we have kept on growing vertically with both the rammed earth walls and the cob wall. By the end of the week we finally took the decision of destroying and rebuilding the corner section that for days had been somehow worrying us because of its “dusty” surface, since probably the mix was lacking of water and didn´t react well. Even after watering the wall, it was really difficult to smash it, which at least proofs the strength of the technique!
On Friday evening, after finishing the daily works, we went together with Anatoli and Primli to their village, Kimanyatu. We had a lovely walk and we had the chance to see the monkeys jumping around. Before it got too dark we also had the opportunity to go to Anatoli´s house and meet his family. On Saturday evening we were invited by our friend Elly to his house, where we had something to eat and drink. Dear friends, thanks for your hospitality!
The weekend ended up with a visit to Moshi to make some arrangements and to say goodbye to some participants that were leaving and to welcome some others that were just arriving.
This last week in Kibaoni has been really cold and foggy, but luckily by the end of the week the sun has arrived and we have enjoyed the Sunday morning chilling on the terrace.
On the working site, the week started with the ambitious proposal of building the exterior perimeter of rammed earth in order to place all windows in their proper location an avoid movements when tamping. We started with the corner, continued with the spaces between windows and ended up with the last corner before the door. We encountered different kinds of small problems (with the mixture, with the earth getting stuck to the formwork, etc) that made us learn and improve the method. The extreme lack of water in Kibaoni and the need of having new windows built every day have somehow hindered our everyday work. Nevertheless and even after having worked some days when it was already dark, we achieved our goal and next week we will finish the last façade and we will continue building the walls vertically.
On Tuesday we received the visit of the group of district engineers. They asked about the rammed earth procedures and the general development of the project. Another unexpected and grateful visit on site was our friend Elly bringing a truck of stones as birthday present for Lara!
On Thursday 1st of September there was sun eclipse and for some minutes the light was dull and we could perfectly see the moon. This date is also Tanzania´s Independence Day and it was joyfully celebrated in Kibaoni Secondary School by bringing the Independence Torch and with the inauguration of new classrooms. All secondary school pupils were singing, dancing and shaking palmtree branches waiting for the torch to arrive, while all primary school pupils where secretly trying to enter the place to watch the whole event. Some musicians and acrobats made a show until the torch arrived and then some politicians and militars gave a speech. Afterwards we all moved to the football field where illegal impounded substances were burned.
Our Kenian friend Tumaina visited us on Friday and delighted us with different stories about Masai people and their culture. He is directing an organization that fights for the rights and the sustainable development of Masai tribes, adapting their lifestyle to new times but preserving their identity. We are looking forward to visiting him soon in Kenya at his Masai village.
Tanzania Goes Mud! 