Field Visit Report – James Kyles
The purpose of this visit was to reconnect in person with people involved in these two initiatives, to examine progress since my last visit in 2019 and to develop strategies for future work and funding.
I arrived in Bukoba, where the Kolping Society of Tanzania (the KST) has its head office, on May 6th and connected with Gerry Mushema, the field lead for both initiatives. On the 7th we made tentative plans for field visits and strategy discussions with various members of the KST organization.
The next day I was fortunate to be able to meet with David, one of the two orphans now in his second year at university in Dar es Salaam (he was on a work term in Bukoba). Unfortunately Faith, the other orphan attending university, was on a work term in a distant part of the country so we could not meet. David is in the second year of a three-year IT program and hopes to obtain a scholarship to pursue graduate studies when his first degree is complete.
On the 15th I met with Janeth, the orphan who is in grade 8 at the KST-operated secondary school. She is doing well in school.
Most of the remainder of my two weeks in Bukoba was spent in assessing the quality of the earthquake-proof homes we are building in the village of Nyamuhunga and in developing strategies going forward in view of various funding challenges. I met the families that have moved / will soon move from their very modest mud-wattle homes to the homes made with HICSEB technology (Hollow Interlocking Compressed Stabilized Earth Block). Photos were posted in my mid-year update. One family is bringing power to their new home so lighting will no longer be by kerosene lamps, which cause many lung problems for children and the elderly.
We examined the first house which was built at the KST-operated Kagondo trade school due to the fact that HICSEB block manufacture and construction techniques were new to NW Tanzania and the inevitable learning curve could be better managed from that location. Two teachers occupy that house. We spent time with Sweetbert, the construction foreman who has been in charge of the two homes in Nyamuhunga (1 completed, 1 awaiting roof and finishing). We discussed the apparent difference in block quality between the two homes and made appropriate changes to his operating procedures. We conducted some very basic strength testing and found similar block strengths, despite visual differences.
We met with senior KST staff to discuss a possible business opportunity for the organization to construct earthquake-proof homes in the vicinity of Bukoba. During construction in Nyamuhunga there was serious interest from government officials (one wanted to borrow the machine to make himself a new home!!).
We subsequently returned to the field to examine how the block-making machine is being stored and discussed with Kagondo leadership an experiment we felt we should conduct before seriously considering ‘city homes’. This would involve investigating block strength with different amounts of cement and sand added to the local sub-soils, which are used as the primary component of the HICSEB material. We plan to have the students who are learning masonry involved in the experiment with a view to including study of HICSEB manufacture and construction in the trade school’s masonry course.
Funding to date for the project has come from Google’s Christmas giving program but, due to staff changes, this funding source is no longer available to us. The uncertainty of future funding for the Earthquake Recovery Initiative and the stellar results of the homes built to date have encouraged us to seriously consider the above-described option as a possibility for the future.
In summary, some excellent homes were built, and three kids (2 in university) are doing well at school.
All in all, a very productive visit.
