February Trip to Teremi/Chwele

I have gotten a lot of questions/complaints about how it seems that I never do work, and that all I do in Africa is go on safaris and see wild animals.  That isn’t true, but I have never had a way to back it up especially since I was always at the wrong end of the lens.  In February I had BUC Eric Chamberlain as my travel partner, and as a fellow Nikon SLR user, I was finally in some pictures worthy of posting. 

The February trip started by heading to Eldoret, to see two of most important projects.  This contactor is a very fast mover and has quickly prepared the site for the foundation.  These two projects are each for a 100 student open bay dormitory, one at a girls high school and one at a boys high school. 

Chwele is the girls school and its dormitory is being placed on a difficult hillside.  Over 10 meters the foundation had to be built up over a meter in height.  This is the admin building at the school.

Here is me and the contractor, Anwar, overlooking the trenching for the foundation.  Four trees had to be removed to make room for this dormitory.  All the work you can see has been done by hand, no backhoes or excavators, no mechanical equipment whatsoever.

Overall view of the jobsite, you can see the two trenches on the left are for the main and veranda foundations.

Here me I am taking a photograph of the foundation walls.

A Kenya worker placing a large bluestone onto the foundation wall.

Walking the jobsite with Anwar.

We ate lunch at the jobsite, with the drivers Alex and Sam.  We are looking at a map deciding how to get to one of the new sites that the embassy wants me to check out.

Teremi Boys School is slightly behind the girls school, but is being built on flat ground, so its construction should be easier.

All the excess soil must be moved by hand, a truly amazing feat when you are used to seeing bobcats and backhoes.

The overall foundation view.

Anwar and I looking at the foundation trenching.  The rich, compact soil allowed him to dig the trenching without any shoring and make it look like he cut it out with a knife.

BUC Chamberlain, myself, and the headmaster in front of the school.