Bamboo is also offered on the local timber market. The bamboo canes available there are untreated, on average four meters long, and the diameters vary greatly. Many culms are harvested too young, are bent, damaged and sometimes already infested with borers. The day of harvest is too long ago to be able to still treat the bamboo canes with boric salts. Even though the quality is rather unsatisfactory, we buy some canes for our experimental purposes. We also procure the basic tools and materials needed for building with bamboo.
When cleaning, measuring, sawing, drilling, etc., many peculiarities of bamboo become apparent. We realize there is a lot to consider when handling it correctly. Even though we have already gathered a lot of knowledge from experts, textbooks and courses, the “hands-on experience” presents us with some challenges. Even though bamboo offers an alternative to wood, the building materials are very different in terms of properties and handling.
First preparations of the plot in Woraso: clearing and surveying. In this phase, Myles, who has come all the way from the capital, provides us with advice and support. He works for an architecture firm in Accra and already has some experience with bamboo construction projects.
Rabea takes part in the two-day workshop “Building in the Global South”, which is organized by we-building e.V. and offered free of charge. The workshop comes in handy during the current “hot” planning and preparation phase of our building project in Ghana. The topics like time and cost planning or challenges during construction are very relevant for us. Rabea was able to take away a lot of new knowledge, helpful experiences and tools from those two days. The close practical relevance based on some example projects in Ghana is particularly gratifying. The follow-up consultation of we-building e.V. made it possible to go into more detail about some concrete challenges in our project and to exchange respective experiences. https://we-building.org/de/projekte-globalen-sued/
Two more milestones in January:
We finally submit the project proposal for the construction of the bamboo treatment facilities to Engagement Global.
Federico sends us his final elaboration and presentation for the workshop area of the Bamboo Training Center.