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But not giving up!

November 5, 2014 by leslieclark 3 Comments

The show must go on.  I know many of you think I am crazy, but I truly believe that if we stand down in fear of violent people we only encourage their behavior.  I cannot become violent myself, but I can resist and gain ground for the peaceful ones.  So enough of melodrama…

I was instructed by our earth bag experts at United Earthbuilders to make some sample bricks from the clay and sand available at Tamesna.  As luck would have it we were not at Tamesna long enough to soak the clay and make the bricks so I hauled 5 bags of sand and clay to Agadez and made bricks here–only to have to haul them back out to Tamesna for a demonstration at our festival.

Here we are making bricks…

Adding clay slurry to sand

Adding clay slurry to sand

Mixing sand, clay and adding water

Mixing sand, clay and adding water

Testing consistency

Testing consistency

Filling the rice bag

Filling the rice bag

Tamping the brick

Tamping the brick

These suckers are SOLID…like cement.  It is hard to believe, but I think this method is going to be a winner here in Niger.
After making 4 examples using different proportions of sand to clay, we will determine the most solid and use that for all the buildings. Between layers of wet sand bags two strands of barbed wire are strung to provide the re-enforcing. We hope to build small boys and girls dormitories and a teachers residence in the three week program to be held in February.

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Category Earth bag building| Education| Events| General Tags Earth bag building

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Terri Gold

    November 6, 2014 at 5:40 am

    Wonderful Leslie
    We can never give up
    Wish we were there to help
    Your continued commitment to the people in Niger makes a huge difference !!

    Reply
  2. Linda Lamb

    November 17, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    Courtyards in Agadez …..good place to do these fabulous earth bags..for now….looks like they will be just the thing for building projects…knowledge and employment …using what there is plenty of – soil and sand.
    Stay strong, stay positive, stay YOU Leslie
    Miss you
    Linda

    Reply
  3. Jill Townsend

    February 14, 2015 at 7:02 am

    NEVER GIVE UP! Next time, I’m going back there with you! Love and congratulations to all.

    Reply

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