Archive 2022

  • October – November 2022

    It was a successful and significant trip to Ghana in autumn 2022:

    Rabea and Christoph personally meet the team of their partner organisation “Bamboo for Integrated Development Ghana” (BIDG).

    Our cooperation with the “International Bamboo and Rattan Organization” (INBAR Ghana) is strengthened by a visit to the new headquarters in Accra and further meetings with the regional director Michael Kwaku.

    We meet the contractor Livingstone and visit one of his bamboo projects in the Volta region. We look forward to future cooperation!

    When visiting the project site in Somanya in the Eastern Region, the vision becomes tangible: The bamboo treatment plant will be built and put into operation here in spring of next year!

  • August 2022

    Design Build Summer School at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden.

    “As part of the elective course “Climate-friendly building | DESIGN BUILD”, 44 students from the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering took part in a design-build week centered around sustainable building materials such as clay and bamboo.”

    https://www.hs-rm.de/de/hochschule/aktuelles/details/artikel/summer-school-klimagerechtes-bauen-mit-lehm-und-bambus

  • June 2022

    Final submission and presentations of the students, this time in presence at the RhineMain University of Applied Sciences. The students present convincing plans and designs for the construction project “Accommodation for the Bamboo Training Center in Ghana”. We are very impressed.

  • May 2022

    First contact with Ghana promoter Nicolai Roerkohl.

    Our association becomes a member of the Ghana-Forum NRW e.V. The Ghana-Forum offers meeting space and platform for mutual exchange of experiences, information and for joint activities.

    First contact with Emil Fischer, CEO of Bamboo for Integrated Development (BIDG). After our first acquaintance, possibilities and potentials of a cooperation are discussed.

  • April 2022

    The first three bamboo project hoodies are printed! With these fairly and sustainably produced sweaters, we can make a uniform and chic appearance in the future.

    “Kick-off” at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences: The introductory event for the elective subject “Climate-Friendly Construction” takes place online. The students are introduced to the topics of sustainable building with clay and bamboo by Professor Sascha Luippold, clay building expert Jan Glasmeier and Christoph Diekhans. Christoph and Rabea introduce the organisation GCG, the project and the country Ghana in more detail.

    “Engagement Global” approves funding for the sub-project “Construction of the bamboo treatment facilities for the training center”.

    Our 2021 annual report is ready.

    View here

    Our general board meeting is held on April 30 at 4 p.m. in Clarholz, Germany.

  • March 2022

    Rabea participates in an event of the INBAR E-Learning program:

    GCG participates in “Aktion Saubere Landschaft” (action clean environment), an initiative of our home municipality Herzebrock-Clarholz, where the headquarters of GROW Colourful Ghana e.V. is also located. We are assigned the “Große und Kleine Putz” as area of operation, where Christoph and Rabea collect garbage lying around with joyful commitment.

  • February 2022

    We visit the Woraso community to learn more about the local situation and to stimulate participatory communication. Local people are given the opportunity to share their opinions and ideas about the project and actively participate in decision-making. We also interview some local people about their experiences with bamboo.

    Via Christoph Diekhans, who is currently writing his master’s thesis with reference to our project, we get in touch with the clay building expert Dipl. Ing. Arch. Jan Glasmeier and Prof. Dipl. Arch. ETH Sascha Luippold. Hence, great opportunities for cooperation appear, and the first planning for the sub-project “Accommodation for the Bamboo Training Center” begins.

  • January 2022

    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.