Electricaid Project of the Month
Together in Kenya
Tarbert Station Pamoja, which means "Together", was the name of our project Kenya this summer. We were 15 individuals from various parts of Ireland together, working in partnership with Church Mission Society (CMS) Ireland and people in Kenya. An application was made to ESB ElectricAid and we were delighted to receive funding. This will allow the completion of the proposed multi-purpose centre, which will be used during the week for adult literacy classes and as a nursery school as well as a church on Sundays. The work site was at Lemasusu in the Chyulu Hills in southern Kenya. Here the local Masai community presently meets and worships under a tree.The work was done under the careful supervision of the local fundi (builder). The first job was to mark out the site for the new building. Post holes were marked and dug literally by hand using whatever tools, sticks or swords were available! The main posts of local cedar wood were set in concrete and the wall plates and roof trusses of cypress wood sawn and nailed together. It would have been easy to bring in an electric saw and diesel generator (there is no electricity in the area!) but that is not the way locals have to work, so it was better for us to experience things as they would normally be - blisters included!
As the wall plates were finished and the roof trusses put in place the building began to take shape. The roof was sheeted in corrugated sheets and this will eventually be guttered to collect whatever rainfall there is into a concrete storage tank for local use.
The walls were completed in cypress planks and then began the hard and dusty work of digging out the floor. Volcanic stones were collected locally and carried to site on an ancient Massy Ferguson. A set of new tyres for this vehicle would be of great benefit considering the number of punctures it was getting.
Everyone was involved in the hard work of mixing the concrete by hand and with great effort the concrete floor was laid under the watchful eye of the fundi. A sign was carved with the appropriate name of the building "St.Patrick's." All that remained is for the installation of the doors, windows and the furniture. We were privileged to visit a primary school and the Masai in their traditional dung covered houses and to share hospitality over a cup of chai in simple but very welcoming surroundings. It is only through many years of partnership built up with the local people through the ACK and the Church of Ireland through CMS Ireland that we could share in this experience.
The support of ESB Tarbert Staff and Management and the additional funding from ESB ElectricAid will allow the completion of the project in Kenya and the building will be of great benefit to the local community.
By David Tough
Tarbert Station
The prize is dinner for two with concert tickets for the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
