Volunteers and local people met a warm day in December in the district of Nyanza. The goal of the day was to make bricks and after a few hectic and warm hours had the group made 120 of them, as a first step towards a new house and future for the owner.

Water

Water is needed to make bricks, and fetching the water we needed was our first job this day. 20 minutes took it to walk to the pumps, a short distance could the volunteers tell us.

By the waterpumps it was crowded, but by being patient everyone got the water they needed and could go back to their daily activities.

The trip down to the pumps was easy, however the trip back to the work-site took more effort and strenght on our part since we had jerry-cans filled with water when climbing back up through the cultivated land, forrest and roads.

Earth

The next phase in the process could now begin. Earth and water in addition to grass and straws was blended to make mud necessary for making bricks.

The next task this day was to move mud from the mud-depot to the place where the mud was to take form as a brick. As the pictures show, we were also allowed to make the actual bricks by pushing mud into a form and then lift it off.

Bricks

After 3 days in the sun will the 120 bricks that we made be used as part of the construction of a kitchen and a toilet, as an annex to an already existing house lacking those two necessary rooms. For constructing a house one usually need 3000 bricks.