This mission was almost three years in preparation and endured two cancellations, but we persisted and it was worth the wait. It was a risky undertaking: teaching the nomads to build??? Nomads don’t have houses! I have always known that nomads wanted and needed structures to store their things while they are on migration, but since we have built the TAMESNA CENTER FOR NOMADIC LIFE, we have needed several structures used by the whole community in order to provide the ongoing services and educational programs. Waiting until there was enough money to pay someone to come all the way out to TAMESNA from the city usually meant the structures just got postponed. Wouldn’t it be great if the nomads could build their own structures? Then through Rotary Club and our board member Kay Bliss I visited the newly built offices of Uncommon Good in Claremont. These were built using bags of earth stacked with barbed wire between rows, a process fairly simple to teach, very solid and inexpensive as the main building material is the soil from the building site, using no wood–a very scarce resource in Niger. So with the idea of preserving the environment, bringing a new skill set to nomads, and getting new community buildings: a boys dorm, girls dorm and teacher’s residence for the Tamesna boarding school we forged ahead. James Golub and Fox McBride were the builders at UNCOMMON GOOD and we started talking. Three years later, they arrived in Niger to teach this method to nomads with the very ambitious goal of constructing three buildings in three weeks–teaching all the way.
They started by selecting a central point, drawing and digging a foundation
Laying sacks of earth and cement in the foundation–these can also be gravel.
Clay was mixed with water, getting out all the lumps.
Barbed wire was then attached between each row of bags.
The door form was then set. We realized that these wood forms would be too inaccessible for nomads so the system was adjusted on the third dome
Two domes went up simultaneously with one supervised by James (pronounced JAH mus by the Tuareg) and the other directed by Fox (also known as Rakia)
Each course of bags is tamped within an inch of its life–at least until it becomes solid like cement.
One of the many challenges was hauling enough water from the well. It was constant demand.
Another was protecting that precious water from the thirsty marauding donkeys.
Another was keeping the clay and soil coming–James and Fox calculated that the 23 man nomadic crew had moved 138 tons of soil.
Keeping it level.
The curve of the arc was determined by measuring each level with two different chains.
Getting close to closing.
The colorful bags we will leave exposed on the inner ceiling–they are just too pretty to cover up. After all children will be sleeping here.
The first dome done–Otakane celebrates!
Production line set up to build the buttress which will form a nice seat around the dome.
Second dome done–Fox/Rakia and her crew show it off.
Larry Beckett, nomad foundation board member, Rotarian and third time Niger visitor was always there to do whatever work was needed–most importantly for me–brainstorming about the future. Here we show off our new boys & girls houses with the school in the background
On the third dome which will be the teacher’s room, James and Fox let the nomad crew do it themselves.
To replace the wood forms which were expensive. They learned how to do an arch door (or window) using bags as the form and eliminating the need for cement.
The arch solution is less expensive and allowed the whole crew to climb on it the very next day.
The crew was so fascinated at how solid the arch was that they all had to climb on to prove it!
The nomads decorated the top of the third dome with sculptures of camels and cows made from the clay they used in the bags. They sit atop 90 degree ells which will provide ventilation to the interior.
Jahmus and Rakia (AKA James and Fox) celebrate a job well done!
Very impressive, ingenious and so colorful! Leslie, your dedicated leadership continues to provide such wonderful support to the Nomads.
I think it is wonderful to have this project come to fruition after all this time and those domes look so great. Wonderful job Leslie, Fox and James, although I like their Tuareg names better.
Congratulations, James, Fox, Leslie, and all the many good people who I am sure had a hand in this. I am in awe of your determination, dedication and idealism. You give me such hope for what our world could be!
Thank you Nancy! Had it not been for your project this connection and project may have never been! It was a great experience with a great bunch of people from NF and the Tuareg! Oh and Sue!
Mazel-tov, congratulations to the entire crew.
You guys going to cover them with an earthen plaster? Uknow the bags will fall apart from the UV sun rays.
Yes but they needed to dry a couple of weeks first–should be being done now.
Hi Nomads, Jamus and Fox and Leslie,
Mazel-tov!!!
Isaiah and Manuela
I should like to know if there are some wodaabe which construct on his manner theit OWN House ??? and Where ?
Yes, actually one of the most professional masons in the program was from Tagoudoumt. His name was Belou and his friend Goudjé. They were among the best of the students. Unfortunately for Foudouk, they only sent one, El Hadji Dari. He was shy, but worked well. I am not sure if he reached the level to be able to do one on his own in his own community. I was disappointed, but the young men from Foudouk were all busy doing and earth berm project at home funded by the government. I have no way of knowing if Belou has actually built in this fashion at home. Remember, since the training was completed it has been the very hot “hunger season” of April and May, Ramadan, and now the rains. Among the nomads Niger not much happens in those months except survival. After the rains finish in September the migration season begins and again everyone is busy moving every day to fatten their herds. The time when this type of construction would normally be accomplished would be from October to March. I will be back in October to try to do another building in Agadez with the best of the former students to give them the chance to do it on their own with materials we pay for. I hope this can be a showcase for many others to see this type of construction and encourage them to do it on their own. Even though this type of construction reduces the cost of a structure from $2,000 to $300, it is still a large commitment for a nomad in money and time, we hope they will continue with it.