Submitted by Mathew Porter
Been a while since we have heard about how the MoM garden is getting on. We had the 90 day challenge, which was to build a mud-hut, wind turbine and water filter along with a medicinal garden by end of March...
We haven't been able to complete all the above in the time frame. I will start with the mud hut as lots of pictures...
Mudhut - enlisting the help of some of the masons on-site who are building accomadation, who know how to use mud. Tried talking to them to go beyond the standard mudhut, maybe using mud bricks - Capt. Yaw had some ideas on doing it Tudor style, casting the mud in, but we have ended up letting the local guys go ahead with their traditional style, mainly as they can't imagine doing anything different, and my experience of mud construction is very limited, as is my knowledge of what can and can't be done! Once they have finished, we can see if we can do anything different, applying a little science to it...
Starting with a foundation, layed with plastic, to stop the ground cracks coming up the walls...
A site is chosen to use to get clay from - ideally near the site, the clay is dug up, and mashed with water to give it an even structure.
It is then formed into balls, and carried to the wall...
Where it is thrown on and punched down to get the air out, and formed to the shape of the wall.
It should then look like this - foundation almost completed.
The layer is then left for 3 days to dry - any higher, and the mud will start to slump. After 3 days it is rock hard, and ready for another course. Right now, we have put in window and door frames, and it is looking like this...
The finishing is not as nice as I want - today, I went in there to find the guys had shoved a old piece of wood in front of the top of the window frame, so it could support the full width of mud. Always one to try and instill insight, I asked if it looked nice to them - "This is how we build mudhuts" I was told... Deciding not to fix it after being asked to, they paid for it, when Mr. Solo and I went back to fix it, and a chunk of mud slumped off and crashed to the floor... Hahaha!!! Still, I don't think they got insight into it...
We are still debating on the plastering - yes, debating - in Ghana there are two ways to get things done - autocratically, ie. "You do it MY way or I fire you" or the nice guy way, whereby you will waste seven times the time it will actually take to do the job debating what technique to use... The guys tell me there is absolutely no way we can plaster using the mud we have onsite. Unless I go and get silt from another source, such as the farm - silt being larger particles than clay, finer than sand... Or use normal plaster - cement and sand. I am trying to tell them I would like it to actually look like a mudhut - they are trying to tell me, if I want that, fine, I can go and fill my car with silt from the farm and bring it back for them... Might call for some autocracy...
The roof will probably be tin sheets covered with thatch, and the whole thing will be mosquito proof. They is a difference between living in a mudhut and living like someone in the village! Who will be our first guest?!
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