January 15, 2019
Cement Masons and Steel Workers African Style
(Note: The details of
this blog is for those at SCC’s Apprenticeship Center who prepare people to
work in the construction industry. I thought they would like to see how it’s
done here.)
This afternoon, John asked me if I wanted to tag along down
the street while he did a couple of errands.
Sure. I’m always up for an adventure.
First we walked down the street to the tailor shop where
John dropped off a pair of pants to be shortened and repaired. More about that later….
Next, we back-tracked a few shops to visit a
cinder-block-making shop that belongs to Maso’s brother, Geoffrey. (If you remember, Maso is the owner/manager
of Kundayo Apartments where I’m staying.)
The whole cinder-block-making-process was fascinating. When
we got there, we first saw the tools and machines to make the cinder
blocks. In this photo, you can see a
bucket, two shovels, a bag of cement and the cement mixer.
Part One: Two men, fill buckets with gravel and sand
and dump it into the cement mixer. 
Once in awhile, they add a bucket of water. Then they add a bag of cement.
They turn
on the cement mixer and use a shovel to help stir and mix the cement.
When it’s
mixed up, they open a door at the bottom of the cement mixer and the stuff
pours out.
Part Two: They shovel the cement mixture into forms
in another machine. Then they turn that machine on and it pounds the cement
into two cinder blocks. Together they pull the blocks off of the machine and
carry them to the back of the lot and set them down to dry.
These are considered high quality because they harden
quickly. Geoffrey is standing on some
that were made this morning. Amazing.
Fun Facts: Each set of 2 cinder blocks weighs about 25 kilos
or about 55 lbs. These two men do this work for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week.
I don’t know how much they get paid.
After learning about cinder-block-making, we learned about
how bed frames are made out of steel. Each bed frame is uniquely designed and
hand crafted out of tubes and rods and flat pieces of steel. The man you see in this photo is one of these
frame-makers.
Although he’s a cool and
awesome craftsman, that’s not why he’s wearing sun glasses. These are his welding glasses. Yea.
Welding. Sunglasses.
And here’s what he’s working on.
They were stacked inside against 2 walls and each bed frame
was different. And beautiful. And
extremely heavy.
Some had tall bedposts
for mosquito netting and one had a kind of wrap around footboard. We saw
several pieces for a double-sized bunk bed that was simply and beautifully
designed. All of the bed frames were unique.
Fun Facts: After the frames are made, they are spray-coated
with a red anti-rust chemical. Then they
are painted. Although we saw only black
ones, Geoffrey said they could be painted any color. They can be made to order.
Here’s the final product.
*****************************************************************************************
OK, back to the tailor.
When we walked back to the tailor shop, a woman was working on John’s
pants. She had a treadle sewing machine
so her feet provided the power to repair the pants. The pants were quickly finished and John paid
the woman and we left.
Fun Facts: Notice the chair in front of the sewing machine
in this photo. You will probably have to
zoom in but the arm and the back of the chair appear to be “stitched” together
with wire. Amazing.
Thus ends another adventure in Arusha, Tanzania, Africa.
