Making the tower - Uni. of Nairobi workshop

Thursday May 24th 2007 – Sunday May 27th 2007

Today we began to construct the foundation and tower. The University of Nairobi allowed use to their workshop to construct the tower. The machines were slightly ancient (probably not updated in that last 30yrs minimum), but they got the job done. We were in the shop for 4 and half days before we got a bus to take us out to Homabay-- I have no idea if it’s Homabay or Homa Bay so you’ll see me spell it both ways.

We made it through the first day with only a few minor setbacks—in fact, this was undoubtedly the ONLY day we left with our heads still high.

As mentioned before, Khanjan had gone to the Industrial Area prior to our arrival and had but a bunch of steel. All the pieces were supposed to be 20 ft. And they were, give or take a foot. First things first: divvy up the steel: Alex and I figured out how to cut the assortment of pieces in order to utilize it all. In this task came the first challenge, which was minor, but was an absolute foreshadow of what was to come: Only about half the steel was actually straight. Some bowed left or right. Some even twisted. Right, so let me rephrase what Alex and I did. We figured how much of each piece could actually be used (if any at all), THEN decided how to cut the pieces, then made an inventory for Khanjan to go BACK to the Industrial Area to buy more steel (and preferably straight, we requested).

Mark went to work cutting the steel to the designated sizes as we gave him the list, and Khanjan went shopping.

The machine to cut the steel was not a bandsaw that some of you may imagine. It was a single horizontal blade that began above the piece you wanted to cut and then swung, in pendulum fashion, lower and lower and through the steel. It took a few minutes to cut each piece. We had over 1000lbs of steel, which needed to be cut into about 60 pieces of steel, and 40ft of 4” wide steel plate that needed cut down into about 50-60 pieces.

It took a few days to cut it all.


Here’s the kicker you need to keep in mind: Obviously you can’t drill, weld or assemble anything until the pieces actually exist. Which translates to, the cutting needs prioritized and to run smoothly for everything else to run smoothly. Comprendo?

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all the details of the days in the workshops. Just know that by the time we left that shop, we wore out more machines than the Nairobi students could have in an entire year.
First, we broke 3 blades, and every single time a blade to the cutter broke, it took anywhere from an hour to half up to an entire day before we could get our hands on another one. We also broke the ½ inch drill bit—which was great since we were drilling ½ inch holes. And ladies and gents, we’re in Kenya, there is not a Home Depot that one can go to, in order to replenish supplies. That half inch drill bit was THE half inch drill bit attainable. And we broke it— on the second day.

(A drill bit is the drilling metal of the machine, for those of you who have no clue as to what I’m talking about).

Actually there were two presses: the mother and mini me. We were drilling the ½ inch holes with the mother and the 3/8 inch holes with mini-me to utilize time. We exhausted mini-me into retirement (at least for the rest of this project). In fact, we even managed to blow a fuse to the entire shop at one point.

Everyday Khanjan would say: can you finish by noon so we can leave for Homabay? We’d say, one more day. Wed, Thurs, Friday, Saturday. Finally on Sunday we packed up, finished or not, and headed out. Each day we arrived and left the workshop a bit later than the day before. So that by Saturday, we arrived at 7:30am and were there til 11pm. We would have happily worked through the night to finish everything up because once we got to Homabay, we would no longer have a workshop to work in and would have to hire someone to drill holes and weld. However, poor Lynos, the technician (and would transform into our bus driver the following day), had to stick around the workshop as long as were there because he had the keys to lock up.

By the time Sunday came, we were all so exhausted that the idea of spending 6 or 7 hrs on a bus, doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING seemed heavenly, and relished the thought. A WHOLE day (well, minus the 7am to 12pm we had already spent in the shop) of not assembling, drilling, lugging steel around.

Did I tell you about my nickname they boys made up for me? It stemmed from my dark complexion. You see, by the end of every day everyone was covered with black grease from the steel. White shirts and pants no longer existed. However, I managed to take this sooting adventure to a new level. You see, if you didn’t know, I’m the weakest woman alive. I can’t do one push up, literally. But I was also the only girl on this project and so I couldn’t reveal my weakness. Therefore, to carry the steel, I had to lift with my legs and then hold it against my stomach to carry more than one piece at a time. Good thing for me I am also a woman with hips. These hips were meant to hold babies, laundry, and especially steel---who would’ve guessed!

Anyways, because I had to “prop” the steel, per say, my shirt was twice as black as everyone else’s. My arms were also covered. Consequently, my face blended right in with my fellow Kenyans thanks to my constant habit of brushing lose strands of hair out of my face.

Allow me to introduce myself: Coal Miner Betsy.