First major materials delivery

From Emily, our on-site director - "On Wednesday, I had a shipment of 200 bags of cement arriving from Mwanza. It was a hectic morning arranging where the cement should be stored, purchasing a lock, and negotiating a watchman. The driver was never very clear about his arrival time, and with only about twenty minutes to spare, I called Owino and asked if he could find people to help us unload the truck. Because need is so great here, even the villagers most devoted to the health center would like to be paid something. We checked the price of unloading cement in Shirati, and found it was 300/bag. The total would then be 60,000 tsh for the truck! I hoped the Roche people wouldn’t propose such a price. When we finally arrived at the chairman’s office, our new storage location, Owino had a large group waiting. Our truck driver was in a hurry to get back to Mwanza and was pushing us to unload quickly. Owino reminded the villagers that this cement is really for them, not for me or for SHED, but for the benefit of their community. Eleven people then agreed to unload the cement as fast as they could for 2,000 tsh each (about $1.50 US). The scene that followed was inspiring. The men quickly divided themselves, and it looked as if a race had begun. Calling to one another and literally running, they were all determined to keep the cement moving into the storage building as quickly as possible. Though it needed no translation, Killian would sometimes say to me, “That man is saying, ‘We know this is for us. That is why we are willing to sacrifice ourselves.’” or “That one is saying, ‘We are so glad Owino called us so that we can help get this done.’” When the men inside the house started falling behind those unloading the truck and those running it from truck to storage building, I jumped in to help, fully expecting a “No, let me sista.” I believe it was a sign of how seriously they took the work of quickly moving the cement that they readily accepted my help. As we finished stacking, many of those we had hired came inside to count the bags for themselves, to be sure that Roche Health Center was not missing even one bag. The attitude of the villagers is not always easy to decipher as an outsider, but on this day, it couldn’t be mistaken that they view this health center as a great gift that they will gladly give of themselves to help realize. We have another shipment arriving tomorrow, and though it is a Saturday, I can’t wait to go to work."

First ISSB bricks

After training from the manufacturers of the brick press, Makiga, Inc (from Nairobi), our brick team began making progress on the bricks for the health center.

Roche Health Center digital renderings

These renderings were completed by University of Cincinnati Graduate Architecture students in studios taught by Assistant Professor Michael Zaretsky in Fall 2008 and Fall 2009. They are not completely accurate but provide a sense of the design proposal.

Water at Roche!

After tremendous effort on our local team's part, we now have a submersible pump and a generator to pump water 350-meters to our 2500-liter water storage tank on-site. This will be tested and used for construction in the short-term. Because of the heavy rain season, the delivery truck bringing the tank couldn't get to the site. The first image shows villagers rolling the tank 4 meters to the site. The other images show the installation of the tank and the first showing of fresh water.

Getting water for the Roche Health Center

Villagers in Roche have been getting most of their water for drinking and sanitation from a small pond that is shared by local livestock. When VLOP began working with the village, they soon learned that many of the diseases they were treating came from water-borne diseases that could be easily avoided with cleaner water. When we began the Roche Health Center project, it became clear that the first requirement was to provide a source of clean water in Roche. The first step occurred today when a borehole was dug by Majitech, Inc. This followed two water surveys and a choice location 350 meters from the health center site. The drillers hit water today at 90 meters below the surface!!!

brick training by Makiga

Makiga, Inc (from Nairobi, Kenya) produce hand-powered brick presses for the Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB). Village Life purchased a straight and curved press for use at the health center and for future use in the region. Below are pictures from the training taken by Emily Roush.

Studio presentation for SHED

On November 8, 2008, representatives of our local partners, the Shirati Health, Education and Development Foundation (SHED) were in Cincinnati. We had the opportunity to present the progress of the design and get their feedback. This was completely invaluable for the progress of the project.