Building a Clinic in Ghana...What really goes on!

Plans are beginning to take shape and form for this coming trip to Kyekyewere, Ghana, West Africa. Even though there are so many preparations to make, I know it will come together even at the last minute!

Over the weekend I spoke with Nana, the Chief of the Village. He assures me all is well, his family, my friends, and the people of the Village. They will continue to make more blocks for the clinic so that building may begin.

In the last post, I informed you of what was accomplished in 2009. Land Title, land cleared, block making machine purchased, blocks made and Nana is in the process of having more blocks made over the next few weeks. We should be ready to begin building. It will be exciting to see the land marked off for the clinic and to begin to build the footings for the building and maybe even a wall or two.

Let me explain to you a little of what I know about the building process in Ghana. The blocks are made, one by one, on site, thus the block making machine. These blocks are made of cement, sand, and water. This mixture is then put into the block making machine, two men squish the top of the machine down to form a block. The blocks are then removed and stacked. Yes, that is as you read one by one. The blocks are about 18 inches, by 9 inches, by 5 inches and very heavy. There should be about 2500 of them made now, all by hand. You get the idea the building process is very labor intensive. Once the block walls are up, there will be a finishing coat of a plaster or cement over the blocks. Cement will make up the floors, but I feel it necessary to have a drain in each room with pipes that lead to a grey water area in order to properly disinfect and clean the floors. Close to the top of the walls, maybe a foot to 18 inches down, there will be blocks with design openings in them to promote circulation throughout the clinic. Then a tin roof will top it off. These plans are quite subject to change, but you have an idea of what the process is like. Nana, his advisors and I will need to discuss these plans in more depth once I am there.

At the top of this post are pictures of the block making machine and some of the blocks so you can get the idea of what they look like.

Didn’t know I would need a degree in construction too! There is always something to be learned in this world, and sometimes ignorance is bliss when learning a new ‘craft’.

A bag of cement costs about $35.00USD, a truck load of sand about $70.00USD with delivery. Each bag of cement mixture makes about 30 to 35 blocks. If you wish to contribute to the block making, please use the Pay Pal button on the Blog or on the www.walbridgesettlementfoundation.org web site, under donors, at the bottom.