——— 2013_07_31 ——— Prague_Istanbul ———

——————————————————————————————

19H – Taking off to Istanbul where spending a night I saw and I was told how the situation was. At Wednesday night many people were out and among them dozens of policemen in heavy armor and water cannons ready to be used when group about ten suspicious people gathered… And the smell of gas in the air… Istanbul looks like pretty cosmopolitan city, but certain people don’t want it to be so…

——— 2013_08_01 ——— Istanbul_Niamey_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

16H – Istanbul – After a short sightseeing (The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia as must-sees, old town of European part of Istanbul, new constructions…) getting to Ataturk Airport and waiting for THE flight. At midnight after 90min of stopover in Niamey (Niger) I got off on warm ground of paradise – 30 degrees and 90% humidity. Welcome to Ouagadougou…

24H – Ouagadougou – While going at my friend´s home I could see remains of burnt cars in the streets – manifestations of unhappy students. They were forced to leave from the university campus because there was a threaten of civil disobedience and rioting as the government took new measures (Ouaga university will be opened to students of other nationalities (especially Ivoirians) without increasing capacities) and wanted to establish Senat in the country (to be able to change the Constitution easily…)

——— 2013_08_02 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

In the morning there is not even a single trace of night manifestations. Only few offroad cars with policemen close to the university campus. The life goes on…

10H – The meeting at the U.S. embassy with Meg Riggs – very nice lady responsible for the culture and contact person in the issue of AFCP – Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. The discussion was very useful and the will to cooperate obvious… If you want to know more about the project, please continue here.

12H – While walking back to the city center I have taken the most incredible urbanistic creation in Burkina in photo… There is a new city district build up in 2000. It was planned in commemoration for 50 years anniversary of the country independence and it is called Ouaga 2000. It is place where only the richest people live behind high walls, where u can find the most expensive hotel and American embassy. And this huge roundabout (on the picture) with the monument of the martyrs serving for nothing is symbol of it… The Burkinabe population doesn’t understand and is “proud” of it…

13H – I went to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism where I had a meeting about the mosques in Bani with Mr. Jules Itini in November 2012. In December 2012 we have emailed each other about governmental contribution but then the contact was shut down… Today it was explained why… Mr. Itini lost the access to his mailbox. Even in spite of the fact that all employees of the ministry have official business cards, their mail addresses are hosted at yahoo.fr of hotmail.fr… well more about the project here.

——— 2013_08_04 ——— Ouagadougou_Laongo_Ziniare ———

——————————————————————————————

First trip out of the capital! What a relief from busy traffic and dusty environment! Heading to Laongo Opera village. Not far away from Ouaga there is a village where Burkinabé architect Francis Diébédo Kéré has designed a complex of a conference hall, accommodation, a primary school and a hospital (centre de santé et de promotion sociale) apart. The site is definitely worth seeing as a unique example of tradition and respect to local conditions engaging the modernity. The site is pretty sophisticated; the technical and aesthetical aspects of design are well worked-out.

It doesn’t try to imitate and copy vernacular architecture but it respects it as well as it respects the environment and climate. It respects the people´s lifestyle – gathering together, socializing and sharing. That’s why it is composed in accordance with the logic of local village – in a circle around the main conference hall. The accommodation complex looks compact, at the first sight a man would say that the units were only duplicated. But it is false, because every single “hut” is different. A different roof shape, a different number of rooms in disposition, a different size of veranda, a different number of openings, a different placing on the terrain (either embedded or raised on pilotis) and a different color of metal parts (not yet painted, but already published in the visualizations – you can see it in photo gallery).

The very interesting conference hall has not started yet; there is only a pit full of water in recent days as it is a rainy season. The visualizations are quite promissing – I hope in having a chance to visit it again in future.

The hospital is placed apart from the Opera Village, even you can’t see it, and you can find it only if you know which direction to take. It is downhill behind trees.

The architecture is completely different form the one of Opera village. It deals with square composition. It is said to be contemporary interpretation of vernacular architecture. Although it is not very common in Burkina, a visitor finds it natural and obvious. The reason why is also a comfort – a number of patios (or atriums if you want to call it so)… It respects the local lifestyle of living outdoor. But the fact of having these outdoor spaces hidden behind the walls brings the privacy and peace – required in hospital. The building manifests itself much more in plan then it does in elevation.

The outer wall is dotted with a number of concrete frames offering various views of outdoor scenery to patients who are sitting, waiting or lying in beds…

It is not only respect to people who u can notice in the hospital. There are many trees preserved. And I would say that the composition of doctors´ offices (dentistry, gynaecology and obstetrics, and a general health unit) and atriums were strongly influenced by their place.

It doesn’t ignore the technological progress either. The electricity and sewage system are matter of course. And water insulation of foundation as well.

Concerning the materials, as you can see from the pictures – load bearing structure of concrete, walls of BTC (bloque en terre comprimée – block of pressed clay; advanced version of mud bricks that are pressed in special machines and if the clay is not good enough it is reinforced with an addition of cement powder). The finishing materials are straw or eucalyptus (especially in a role of roof casting and a suspended ceiling). There is a question of using local stone – granite that is all around. But the processing is difficult, exhausting and expensive…

The material strategy of hospital is a bit different. The volume of the building is not entirely covered with the roof of corrugated metal sheets because of the aesthetic and budget reasons. That’s why outer walls are made of concrete blocks that resist more to the heavy rains while inner walls are made of the BTC.

There is only one thing missing to mention – there is a German NGO Opendorf Afrika (by Christopher Schlingensief) contributing to the financing of both projets…

——— 2013_08_05 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – Despite of the fact that it is a holiday – The 4^th August is The Independence Day (and if the holiday is at weekend, it falls on Monday then) I have a meeting with an architect. Mr. Guy Sanou is specialized in local architecture he has already worked for preservation of Bani mosques when he was employed in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Today he runs his own architectural studio (offering architecture, urbanism, supervision, consulting, and infrastructure, and anything…).

He is one of the few architects in Burkina, because there is only one Architecture school in French speaking West Africa. It is in Lomé, capital of Togo. And only three Burkinabé students per year were selected in governmental completion. He seems to be a versatile person. He is willing to have a look on our application to AFCP. Especially the construction principles, time planning and budgeting.

——— 2013_08_06 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

15H – initial meeting with possible private sponsors of the mosque preservation – a mining company that extracts gold in north of Burkina, not far away from Bani. I have visited their mines in 2012, you can see the photos here. I hope in their interest (for them under the terms of public relations…)… Next meeting will be in presence of the mayor of Bani Mr. Aman and hopefully with Mr. Cissé

——— 2013_08_07 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

10H – Meeting at Ministry of Culture and Tourism with Mr. Itini to plan the next Monday meeting with the the people responsible for Tiebele project – the site that was accepted in AFCP  competition in 2012.

16H – Handovering of the ElectroCollection to Nouhoum Cissée, the president of Pamtiral M´Jamu, the association related to the Bani mosques. The collection was organized by Milan Holec and Antonín Jelínek and Michaela Solnická in the Czech Republic. Mr. Cissé will sell second-hand electronics in Burkina and earn money for association projects (local school sponsorship, micro economy projects, local tourism development).

The collection was pretty successful – about 30kgs – whiteboard colours _ router _ pair of leather shoes _ pair of football shoes _ stockage system _ photoalbum _ 2glasses _ travell bag _ 7books: “les quatre dragons” “la nuit du renard” “le cochon en panne” “james bond 007” “le fond de la bouteille” “la vallée de la peur” “une vie” _ 9discmen _ 9walkmen _ 86original plug-ins _ 19second hand pug-ins_ 4 headphones _ 11mice _ 1notebook _ 1microphone _ 39phone rechargers _ 40cellphones _ 3webcameras _ 3mp3players _ 6cameras _ 4remoted speakers _ 1radio _ 2lamps _ 1radioalarm _ 3rechargers for batteries _ 2socket adaptations _ 2SDcards _ 6USBkeys _ 4original USBkeys _ 3phone batteries _ 3phone covers _ and a lot of other support

——— 2013_08_08 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

Holiday again, this time L’Aïd al-Fitr (عيد الفطر)- which is the end of Ramadan. Nobody works.

23H – Arrival of Slovenian colleague from k A f U L I association (in Bobo- Diulasso) where I will be staying for about 3 weeks to help with the responsible eco-tourism strategies that I started last year (especially workshops with local artists… link in French…)

——— 2013_08_09 ——— Ouagadougou_Bani ———

——————————————————————————————

6H – Boarding on the “car” (that means an old bus) heading to the Sahel … the destination is Bani. The goal is to speak with elderly, village council and to update the documentation and to clarify the responsibilities.

14H – Arrival to Bani – no running water, no electricity, limited phone signal… A camera, sketch book, pencil, opened eyes and opened mouth… these are the tools

Certain things are better to be described by images, so, here it is, Bani in 2013. The Grande Mosques was renovated, the roof closed, and the minaret rebuilded into its half-size.

——— 2013_08_10 ——— Bani ———

———————————————————————————————

14H – Meeting with the mayor HAMA Amadou, the village council and the authorities for the religion and Mr. Nouhoum Cissé. Mr. Hama is very wise man experienced in various issues, and especially great French speaker – the meeting was half French, half Fufulde… The main issues of coöperation and responsibilities have become clear… to get more info, continue here.

Updating of the documentation – taking dimensions on the site.

——— 2013_08_11 ——— Bani_Kaya_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

6H – updating of the documentation after charming sunrise – taking measurements of mosques ruins.

10H – Meeting with Mayor Mr. Hama

11H – Taking off to Kaya, where it is reputed for the local leather workshops – getting inspired about the responsible tourism strategies

22H – Back home in Ouaga, where first time on a board of a bus of public transportation service Sotraco

——— 2013_08_12 ——— Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

—————————————————————————————–

10H – The meeting with the people responsible for Tiebele project – the site that was accepted in AFCP  competition in 2012. Mr. Barthelemy Kabore cooperates with ENSAG (Architecture School in Grenoble),. He is responsible for patrimony documentation in Direction Generale de la Patrimoine Culturelle and he has worked for Bani for 5 years.

16H – Boarding on the bus to the second biggest city in Burkina, to Bobo-Dioulasso (the relation Ouaga-Bobo is the same as Prague-Brno with all its aspects…;)

23H – arrival to k A f U L i – non-profit, non-governmental and apolitical association that works in three related fields: the trade fair, the responsible eco-tourism and the non-formal education.

——— 2013_08_13 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

—————————————————————————————–

Introducing of upcoming activities, project preparations, time-planning and settling down.

——— 2013_08_15 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

—————————————————————————————–

National holiday again, this time Christian Assumption plus heavy rains of midAugust that disbales any outdoor activity… doesn´t matter, keeping on reporting and uploading files;)

——— 2013_08_18 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Day off, finally. Getting back my old bike and going for shopping. The train from Abidjan just arrived. Loads of pineapples, avocados and atieke appeared on the ground in front of the Sitarail railway station building.

——— 2013_08_19 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

—————————————————————————————–

Internet starts working properly, so I would like to share very nice work of CRAterre here – the publication is globally overwhelming and inspiring. In the meantime of preparing Bani project, a new design of a shelter for a big weaving machine of k A f U L i is developing;) Here you can see the courtyard of k A f U L i, where it is supposed to be constructed.

——— 2013_08_22 ——— Bobo Dioulasso_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

6H – boarding on the bus to Ouaga, even in spite of the fact that the road is bitumen, recent heavy rains make the journey hard… The Bobo-Ouaga trip never stops making me wonder. Why does it take 7h now and 4h then when evrything seems to eb the same. The same transport company, the same kind of driver (a bit nervous one, I suspect them from taking drugs) and the same old noisy bus that seems driving very fast… I can´t estimate the speed. There is a tiny detail in any African car – the speedometer never works. Once in Ghana I asked why (expecting some serious reason related to the customs, traffic codes or security…). It is because it is the first cable that mechanicians cut accidently in the motor and there is no way to fix it

13H – meeting with people from Algerian embassy

16H – meeting with Mr. Cissé  and Mme. Dijken to arrange details of the preservation project proposition, clarifing all the conditions, responsibilities and working techniques

20H – meeting with Mr. Hama, the mayor of Bani, preparations for a meeting with the possible donour

——— 2013_08_23 ——— Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

8H30 – meeting with Mr. Hama and the possible donor, presenting of Bani authenticity and the preservation plan. The meeting went along very well in promising ambiance, the following measures were taken and next steps arranged.

10H30 – meeting at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to confirm the positive will of the government to include the Bani project into its futur strategies. Preparation of official documents

On the way to cybercafé to work, I dont stop wonder about architectural jewels of the city…

18H – meeting with a student of the Department of Archeology (the Ouaga Uni was closed on 1st Aug – we have met accidentally, and it would be nice to know more about the Archeology in BF)

——— 2013_08_24 ——— Ouagadougou_Kokologho ———

——————————————————————————————

8H – getting on the motorbike and taking direction to Naa Yiri Kokologho (you can download entire publication in French about it on the linked website). It is one of the site of specific earthen architecture in Burkina that Mr. Barthelemy Kabore (from General Direction of Cultural Patrimony) recommended to visit to understand the Mossi traditions.

The Chief´s palace in Moaga country is a valuable example of the traditions and opened mind of the local people. The palace has the features of Sudano-Sahelien architecture and colonialism with really modern disposition – 2 floors. The chief Baloum Naaba Tanga got the inspiration when he travelled to Bamako (Mali). In the middle of 20th century the chief got a support from colonising government. The Mossi ethni are settling agriculturers with strong belief in animism, that´s why the royal courtyard is stable and well developped.

The Naa Yiri consists of the courtyards with the palace itself and a compond of small huts for folk and animistic customs as you can see it in attached plan made by CRATerre. The men and women are divided into two courts with seperated entrances. But the chief´s wife lives in the palace with the chief.

The materails are still traditional – the combination of earth (clay), gravels, shearbutter and straw. In recent years, the innovation from northern Ghana has come – addition of bitume (asphalt for streets) that improves the resistance to the heavy rains.

Unfortunately, the chief of Kokologho died in 2011 and the tradition orders to close the palace and  follow all the customs related to the funeral. Usually it takes 3 years. The chief´s wife had to leave the palace and the custum huts had to be empty as well. So, when we have arrived to Kokologho, we have found an abandoned palace. But on the other hand we were lucky because the previous day the wife of the dead chief came from France (where she was visiting her children for 3 months) and she has explained us all the story.

She was the only wife of the chief, because beside the animism, the chief tended to be Catholic. They had lived together in Bobo Dioulasso where they left from because of the “chefferie” of her husband (=leadership). The oldest son (the chief´s successor) lives in France for already 25 years with his Burkinabe wife, he works as a doctor there. It is obvious that accepting the chief´s position would be really difficult for him because he doesn´t understand actual relationships and mentality. Apparently the futur chief is not chosen yet.

The chief´s wife has an association of women who repair the palace. Only the women are allowed to maintain it, they have to do it every year when the palace is habitated by the chief, but recently their work has been simplified with material innovations (the bitumen addition…)

——— 2013_08_25 ——— Ouagadougou_Kara (TOGO) ———

——————————————————————————————

6H – boarding on the bus direction to Lomé. To get the tickets was not easy, because all trips with “good companies” were already sold out, but in the end I have got “white tickets” with a warning that the bus leaves at 6h exactly!

8H – bus is leaving! Finally direction Togo! To get to the boarders took 4 hours, the migration procedures took 1 hour and 5 more hours were taken to get to Kara, the biggest city of the Northern region of Togo. 10h for less then 500km. The road is in very bad condition. It is damaged by overloaded camions transporting the goods from Lomé harbour to Burkina and Niger.

Another problem that makes the traffic situation on the Togo S-N axe worse is the dimension (width) fo the road and topography. Many overloaded trucks cannot climb the steep slope and they get stucked there, where they are dangerous for others, specially during the night…

——— 2013_08_26 ——— Kara (TG)_Koutamakou (TG) ———

——————————————————————————————

7H – getting on the board of a bushtaxi from Kara to Kanté, a small town that is a gate to the Tamberma country, where you can find the Koutammakou. It is a large semi-mountainous region located in north-eastern Togo and which extends into neighbouring Benin. Koutammakou covers approximately 50 000 ha. This living cultural landscape is inhabited by the Batammariba people, whose remarkable earth tower houses, called “takienta” or “tata”, have become a symbol of Togo.

9H – renting the motorbike to get closer to “Tatas” with drunk guide… och

UNESCO documents say that Koutammakou is an outstanding example of territorial occupation by a people in constant search of harmony between man and the surrounding nature. However, the Koutammakou cultural landscape possesses a particular characteristic. Indeed, the “takienta”, a basic family dwelling where technical, utilitarian and symbolic elements are combined, is unique. Although many dwellings of the region possess fairly strong symbolic dimensions, none possess such a close interrelationship between symbolism, function and technique.  This particular type of dwelling, which owes its aesthetic aspect to the spectacular shapes, is the result of the creative genius of the Batammariba : « those who model the earth » or, by extension, « the good masons » according to the translation of some anthropologists.

I have visited Mr. Le Conservateur ALIZIM Badoualou Karka, who explained me past and futur of the site, their construction and protection technique, strategies of raising awareness of local people. At the same day, I had the chance to visit 5 different Tata houses. The local dwelling is really original and reflects the main features of lifestyle clearly. In the past, even modern history, the Batammariba population. They are really temperament and strong in defending their territory and costums. The form of their houses is fully functionnal, everything is well designed – the shelter for animals and stockage of dry stuff is at the ground floor, middle floor is reserved for the kitchen where you climbed up to the terrace that serves as a shower in lower level and sleeping conical “rooms” in upper level. The towers in raw serve for cereal stockage. The houses possese sophisticated system of communication by “pipes” and holes that serve as well as the opening for arrows…

——— 2013_08_27 ——— Koutamakou (TG)_Ouagadougou (BF) ———

—————————————————————————————–

7H – I have never taken photo of any hotel where I was staying, but this time I got one, so here it is, the Biova Hotel – 2500 CFA per night (100CZK).

Looking for fast transit back on the border with Burkina Faso before the 3days transit visa expires…

200km done in 5 hours, the migration procedure is quite fast… at 13h we are in Burkina Faso again. Looking for a lift to Ouagadougo – it is 240km. The road is very bad, so my “inner soly” didnt want to get on the bus with a driver on drogues and prefered the “taxi-brousse” (on the picture). It is slower than the bus, but safer… I had estimated 4 hours maximum to get “home”. We have arrived after 8 hours of travelling. And we have met THE bus that had accident with a car, fortunately it was not mortal accident…

The essential is to be efficient, and more than efficient… NOW…

——— 2013_08_28 ——— Ouagadougou_Tiébélé ———

—————————————————————————————

6H – it is not raining, so getting off towards Ghanaian border, where Kassena country is spread. People are reputated for their very animistic costums that are related to their dwellings. The royal court is in the village called Tiebele. This site is already inscripted in Tentative list of World Cultural Heritage and got support from AFCP in 2012. Mr. Kabore from the National Patrimony Direction has recommended to go there and speak with the people about their tourism management.

Except of the fact that in Ouaga, we were tricked by a thief, the visit was delightful. It is the first African touristic place where people (and especially children) dont shout “gift, gift, money, money”. The tourism is well organised. A man can say that the entrance fee is higher, but well divided to the population (or we can have an impression of fair division…). Probably even the awareness raising is well organised because all the people are polite and then the tourists are willing to support local projects with extramoney…

And what is the site about? Mud houses of different plans in accordance with the function (round one for singles, rectangle bigger ones for families and grandmothers, 8-form for young families and initiations) that are painted with tradition colours every year. Each house has its own decoration that is repainted by women every year. The population is animistic and that´s why many symbols on the walls should protect the people from the evil and misfortune. Some of them are related with daily routine (especially with cooking and ceremonies of initiations…).

The houses have also defending feautures as the houses in the Tamberma country in Togo. The main feature is very low entrance that is completed with low wall that protects the indoor space from arrows. At the same time the low entrance makes the enemy to enter with his head firstly… And to be beheaded… Also the high contrast between indoor darkness and sahelien brightness complicates the enemy´s attack.

The global climate change brings complications for traditionnal construction as well. The heavy rains with extreme heat destroy the huts. The women were used to maintain the paintings every single year, but recently they admit that the degradation is more developed. The elderly and in general nobody want to use modern materials and that is why the specialists from CRATerre and Wallonie were invited and partly financed by AFCP and Bukrinabe government.

——— 2013_08_29 ——— Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – New Burkinabe experience – getting on the train to Bobo. Cool! And the coach looks very comfortable compared to the bus with 120 people on the board… BUT in the end it took almost 9 hours to get to Bobo…

——— 2013_08_30 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

4H – doesn´t matter where you are… Prague, Moscow or Bobo Dioulasso, you always work late. But the truth is that during the night it is the only period when the internet connection doesn´t drive me crazy…

——— 2013_09_01 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

New look of k A f U L i website is launched. Now we are working on new catalogues (fair trade and art) and flyers to distribute.

——— 2013_09_05 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

14H – meeting with the kAfULi president, Mr. Ganou Seydou, to discuss the new design of the shelter for “grand” weaving machine and the working place for local women. Getting over some particular difficulties and agreeing on making the documentations to proceed it to the construction company to get their price offers.

——— 2013_09_07 ——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

15H – final meeting with k A f U L i people about the steps to be taken in future months, concerning the funding of the new shelter, catalogue of the responsible tourisme, the design of new flyers, the environmental awareness of local community.

——— 2013_09_08 ——— Bobo Dioulasso_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

11H – k A f U L i  meeting about website administration

12H57 – departure from Bobo Dioulasso for Ouagadougou. The trip was unsually calm becuase of Wedmesday armed assault of one bus. According to Burkinabé news it was not “bandits” like 5 years ago, but organised attack to rob someone´s money. There was a person with 4 000 000 FCFA on the board… Then, now the road is well controlled by police. But it still doesn´t work against crazy truck drivers who are always drunk, there were 3 trucks stucked in the ditch on this 360km long trajet.

——— 2013_09_09 ——— Ouagadougou_Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

8H –  “lobbing” at the Ministry to send the desired document to us 11H – taking off to the East, last tropical rain to say goodbye to Burkina for 3,5 months

21H – landing in Ethiopia, what a cold weather!!!

22H – a “loss” of bank card… already:D Brava Michaela!

——— 2013_09_10 ——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H –  meeting at PIN (People in Need) office in Addis Abeba, structuring the time frame and main tasks…

——— 2013_09_11 ——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

Happy New Year 2006!!!! Ethiopian national holiday…

Pilgrimage to Entoto hill above Addis Abeba for the Mass of the New Year – 3 200m of altitude.

——— 2013_09_12 ——— Addis Ababa_Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – chat with macons from Burkina – finalising of the budget for the mosques preservation. Done! The draft is being sent to Washington and Canada to be checked out.

13H30 – departure to Hawassa, capital of the region of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples, at least 5 hours in a car

——— 2013_09_13 ——— Hawassa_Yirgalem_Woininata ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – meeting with civil engineer responsible for the school construction, Mr. Bereket, introduction to the mission, discussion about new attitudes and innovative approaches, about knowhow transfer, about cooperation with young architects and students of architecture (via competitions and workshops…)

14H – visit of the first site – Woininata school in Yirgalem. The construction started a week ago, the foundation is already done, the formwork for a principal beams and slab are getting ready. The compound itself is composed by old school made by community in traditional way. I find it very coincidental to have this opportunity to compare old and “modern” structure.

The local techniques are pretty well developped and it is only the resistance that poses the problems. The local wood is often attacked by termites and the earth is flown away by water. That´s why the traditional structures require regular maintainance (which is not comfortable for the community who can invest its energy and time into different activities…).

The Ethiopian design of primary school is very basic and unfortunately strict to be implemented. It shall cover all needs of all Ethiopian schools, no individuality is considered. Our goal with Mr. Bereket will be to find compromises between local and global, to combine advantages of both. Whether it is material, technique or aesthetique…

——— 2013_09_14 ——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

13H – Ethiopia had 86 ethnies in the past, recently it has had two more – Chinese and Indian… 😀 And one of the proof are ever present rickshaws – also known as threewheelers and in Ethiopia as Bajajs;) So let´s board on one to explore the urbanism and architecture of one of the most beautiful cities in Ethiopia where even Ethiopian couples come for their honeymoon

——— 2013_09_15 ——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

15H – exploration of traditional structures next to modern “skyscrapers”…

——— 2013_09_16 ——— Hawassa_Woininata_Mesincho ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – (3H of local time – in Ethiopia the day starts (“midnight” is at 6 a.m.), so you have to specify which time you use;);) – logistic meeting … and plans are being changed…

11H – boarding on offroad vehicule with the direction to Woininata, to accompany Mr. Bereket to check the construction progress. We arrived at 12H (6H of local time) and found exactly 30 workers at site. Everybody busy. The construction progressed rapidly, the column reinforcement has been already erected, the grade beam has been pourred with concrete… Personally I am a bit surprised with the level of the professionality and especially with the equipment – vibration pole, level measuring instrument, … Something that i wouldnt expect after seeing the documentation quality…

14H – taking direction to Antate, after one hour of driving and being almost at the site we found out that the road is closed… changing direction Mesincho

16H – arrival to Mesincho, the school that was finished 6 months ago and that will be inaugurrated next week with the beginning of the school year. It was constructed with the help of the Czech Skauts´donation. At the first site it is very nice and decent building. Especially compared to the old school built by community – it is just opposite the new one. Unfortunately the work quality is poor, and there are already few deffects that have to be repaired by the construction company (in a guarantee). The school has glass windows, suspended ceiling, drainage and water system constructed within the WASH programme.

——— 2013_09_17 ——— Hawassa_Alaba ———

——————————————————————————————

10H – visit of Alaba Experimental school with Mr. Bereket. After 90min drive we have arrived to very nice compound of eight buildings of different colours and use – classes, a laboratory, a library and a pedagogical centre. The principal guided us around and explained all issues. He was proud of having the best results in region. The school is absolutely extraordinery concerning its site planning, individual attitude to pupils, pedagogical methods (teachers were trained by Czech proffessionals once and since that time they upgrade their skills at Ethiopian universities) and equipment (DIY).

There is maximum of 30 students per class, which is exceptional in Ethiopia where 90 children in one room are common. We have arrived one week before the school year starts and that is why we couldn´t see any classes and even the school was kind of “dirty” because the working labour such as “serviceman” and “cleaning lady” is “provided” by children.

As the school is well reputated in the region and many parents want to inscript their children, the school board has decided to enlarge capacity by building another classes and office by themselves. It concerns the traditional construction made of eucalyptus poles as load bearing structure covered by several layers of mixture of earth and straw. The foundation is wooden and masonry, the roof is made of trusses of eucalyptus and sheets of corrugated iron. The construction should be done by the end of this year.

——— 2013_09_18 ——— Hawassa_Bursa ———

——————————————————————————————

10H – 2,5 hours in car to visit Bursa school (1year old project). Bursa is high in mountains in region where it rains 8 months per year and the roads prove it. Our Hilux couldnt finish last 2km to arrive to Bursa, so we got down to walk. It was so muddy, that after 2 steps I rather took my sandals off and enjoyed nice mud-massage. When we got to school, the elderly insisted on washing my feet – it was the greatest honor for them. I couldn´t impede it.

13H30 – guided tour of the school compound = PIN school, old school, new construction, latrines (old and PIN´s one construcited in WASH programme). I was very pleased by attitude of the community that is pretty encouraged by PIN and raises money to improve their school as possible. They plant flowers, they started their own bamboo forest to grow bamboo for new construction, they weave a new “floor” and decorate the school buildings on their own. The old block consists of specail pedagogical centre where their train pupils in customs and local traditions. The school is very popular in the neighborhood, that´s why they accommodate up to 100 children in one class.

The new building doesn´t have such deffects as the school in Mesincho, the community assisted the construction a lot. The school serves all year and all day round, not only for official education but also for vocational trainings and meetings of the community council.

16h30 – first “city” that we reached and deserved lunch – Wednesdays and Fridays are fasting day – Bayaynetu is obligatory

——— 2013_09_19 ——— Hawassa_Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – leaving Hawassa with the direction to Addis! I dont want to be too judgemental, but Addis is not the most beautiful city that I have ever visited. With all its ongoing constructions it is very dusty. And if you consider the altitude of at least 2400 m where the oxygen is very rarefied, you breathe in only dust… Hopefully it will get better when the railway system is finished and all the roads reestablished… Because Addis has a lot to show, but knows very well how to hide it under this unpleasant first impression…

And some more pix about “modern architecture” in Addis…

Not to be rude I have to say that there are some nice buildings as well. But not numerous…

——— 2013_09_21 ——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

The Department of Architecture of The Unity University College has organised an exhibition of their students work – models and posters and sketches of different quality. The good design were accentuated by the presence of “non-stunning” ones. It was very interesting to see many of them still drawing in hands (btw. it seems like being printed from distance!)

——— 2013_09_22 ——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

17H – Initial meeting with a representative from EiABC about eventual cooperation and intensive workshop called “Find it and use it!”

——— 2013_09_23 ——— Addis Abeba_Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

13H – Getting on the car to Hawassa, again 5,5 hours of beautiful nature and loads of architectural examples along the road

——— 2013_09_24——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

You can guess where I am… orthodox church, California-like palm “Piazza”, Sidamian monument, indian Rickshaws… Welcome to Hawassa!

——— 2013_09_25——— Hawassa_Woininata ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – I cant believe the progress on the site. Mr. Bereket stayed in Addis, because he became  father – he has got his first babyboy – Congratulations! And I have decided to visit the construction site without any announcement, to see how the construction goes on “in real”. The pictures say more than words..

——— 2013_09_26——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

It is the Eve of Meskel – the religious holiday of Orthodox Churches in Ethiopia (Abyssinia). It is celebrated to commemorate the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Helena in the 4th century. The Ethiopian calendar announces it on 17th Meskerem (27th September in Gregorian calendar).

The Meskel celebration anywhere in Ethiopia is reputated for a large bonfire (called “foreworks” or Demera), because it is believed that Queen Helena had a dream where she was told to make a bonfire whose smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she did it with the people form Jerusalem and found the spot where the Cross had been buried. The firewood is decorated with daisies (Meskel flowers). During the “fireworks” young men dance and pick up charcoal from the remains of the fire like a trophey, afterwards they use it to mark their foreheads with the shape of a cross.

——— 2013_09_30——— Hawassa_Woininata ———

——————————————————————————————

10h – visit of the construction site, supervising, discussing and especially learning new amharic sentence: Chigger yeh-lem. The most useful one: No problem!

——— 2013_10_01——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

Finalising of “PINnovative catalogue” content, timeplanning and task management with Mr. Bereket.

——— 2013_10_03——— Hawassa_Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

7H – again… 6hours in the car to reach the “New Flower”. The scenes from Rift Valley looked like from the fairy tale…

14H – visit of the meeting of the cluster women selfhelp group in outskirts of Addis Abeba – social project supported by local government and PIN. The meeting was only in Amharic, but thanks to interpretors I understood enough to appriciate the motivation and efforts of the local women (as my interpretor said the poorest one of the poorests…). There is a system of competitions and awards that are organised for the women to motivate them to earn their lives. Not only the money is what they can gain, there are various trainings p. ex. in business planning, project management, accounting etc.

16H – meeting with the Czech architect from Bahir Dar. She works for the “green strategy” and urban planning of Bahir Dar. We will meet again in her office in Bahir on Saturday!

——— 2013_10_05——— Addis Abeba_Bahir Dar ———

——————————————————————————————

5H30 – boarding on SelamBus to go to Bahir Dar, to meet the architect from NABU office and to discuss her project USE-IT-like map for Bahir Dar. The road goes through the Ethiopian Highlands and passes the Blue Nile Gorges where the roads are full of baboons. It would have definetely been gorgeous experienece, if the weather was nice. Unfortunately when we were descending from 3300m of altitude to the level of Blue Nile, the clouds were so low, that I could only dream about the sceneries under the serpentines…

17H30 – arrival to Bahir Dar (of course that with delay, because one of the wheel had to be fixed at least twenty times by our off-road ride

——— 2013_10_06——— Bahir Dar_Blue Nile Falls ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – relax Sunday! Splendid reward after 2 months of hard working. Veronika took me to the famous Blue Nile Falls, the power plant was off and the amount of falling water was stunning! The tropical scenery, overwhelming noise and everpresent moisture…

——— 2013_10_07——— Bahir Dar_Gondar ———

——————————————————————————————

9H – brainstorming about USE-IT-like map of Bahir Dar with Veronika was followed by saying good bye and boarding on the minibus with the direction to Gondar, the medieval city where the soverign Fasil started the Royal Enclosure. The compound of complex ancient and mdern history when not only religious battles were laid, but also Italian occupants had their seat here. Recently the monument was inscripted to the UNESCO World Heritage List and it is visited and admired by numbers of tourist every day.

The palaces, spas, music houses, lion cages, libraries and archives are all located on the tophill in the centre of Gondar. In past, already the travellers like Scottish Bruce or French Poncet described the wealth of the king like breathtaking harmony of stone, ivory, silver, gold, eben and nature. Today it is only about the stone and nature, because many raiders and explorers stole anything possible. That´s why we can find Amharic books and decorations in British National Museum, Swedish and Italian museums…

One could roam arround the compound for whole day, but unfortunately, I had less then two hours before the sunset, so the visit was only superficial and technical…

Gondar is very rich in medieval architecture, but only in palaces and royal properties, There are many ortodox churches, amongst them the Church of Debre Birham Selassie (Mount of the Enlightened Trinity) with its unique decoration on walls and ceiling. It is handpainted on cotton tissues that were sticked on the surface. It is recommended to visit the church about 20 min before sunset to enjoy specific ambiance.

——— 2013_10_08——— Gondar_Shire-IndeSelassie_Axum ———

——————————————————————————————

4H30 – looking for a bus number 3329 to Shire-IndeSelassie. The road between Debark (city at the entrance of simine National Park) and Shire is rated as the most scenic and dramtic one in whole Africa. Immidiately after Debark the old Italian road (built as a compensation after the fascistic occupation) begins to steeply drop down and one sharp curve follows another. The scenery is accented by the wild flowers and bright sunshine of 9am. We have passed 25km in 4,5h an I have to admit that I was pretty nervous in certain doglegs!

17H – final arrival to Shire with only one stop because of the wheel reparation… Flash change of the bus and then heading to Axum, the old capital of Axumiteregion and dynasty. Today with its stelae inscripted on UNESCO World Heritage List.

I am not surprised in Africa when the first or last stair of the staircase has different height, but in hotel Ethiopis i really had to be very carefull not to kill myself…

——— 2013_10_09——— Axum_Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

6H – quick exploration of Axum and surroundings, very old monuments with inapropriate background, but evidently there are efforts to improve it. In contrary with this, the city neighborhood is absolutely stunning, the landscape is completely different. The desert-like nature is decorated with rock-hewn churches and wild cactus-flowers.

9H – at bus station to find the last lift, directly to Mekelle. The landscape was amazing, I was all the time regretting that I couldnt stop the minibus to ask for a photobreak…

15H – final arrival to Mekele, meeting with Antarin Chakrabarty and Mr. Semere

——— 2013_10_10——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

We have three more days to finalise the workshop timeframe and content. There is another potential stakeholder who has intersts in school buidings. Following days are about meetings and brainstorming… The preparations before facing to students!

The campus of Mekele University is situated on the cliff above the Mekelle city, it is called Arid and it accomodates more than 15 000 students out of total 29 500 of MU. The analogy with Prague and Strahov is not far:D

——— 2013_10_11——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Meeting with the chair of Design Depatment, structuring the workshop into the semestre and discussing the cooperation! There is not only one word about Burkinabe modern architecture and Mr. Kere. Cool, that all Africa is proud of him!

As the Faculty of Architecture celebrates only its 7th anniversary, the school is brand-new;)

——— 2013_10_12——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Meeting with the main coordinator of the faculty of Architecture, creation of timetable and new proposal of student involvement in “reality”. Usually there are complex projects of big scale, but this semestre, there will be rather small project of complex character. Everybody is excited about to start!

——— 2013_10_14——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

The semestre starts! The workshop has been planned for about 30 students (max!), and there are about ninety of them, good luck to me;) Fortunately we are about 5 teachers in front of this crowd and in spite of the fact that the timetable that I had created is quite strict everybody seems to be familiar with it – Cheguerialem – no problem;)

——— 2013_10_15——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Happy Tabaske! Aid Mabrouk! Aid al Adha! Aid el Kebir! Aīd al-Kabīr!  عيد الأضحى! Holiday again – this time for Muslims! The Great Holiday that is celebrated approximately 40 days after the end of the month Ramadan – it commemorates the story when prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was asked by Allah to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismail as an act of submission to Allah’s command and his son’s acceptance to being sacrificed, before Allah intervened to provide Abraham with a Lamb to sacrifice instead…

——— 2013_10_16——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

14H30 – meeting at Educational Buro (Office) of Tigray region, we are asking for need assessment of individual woredas (an administrative unit of Federale Republic of Ethiopia). The very first information says that the most serious shortage of elementary school buidings is in southern Tigray, in Mohoni woreda. Out of total 50 schools, 17 are still temporary tent structures. The Information we got is of course in tigrina language, Mr. Yoahnnes Haile negotiates and interprets.

… 5 weeks in Ethiopia made me to begin leraning amharic language (only speaking, not writing!!!). I started to be quite familiar with it, but moving to Tigray means being again lost and dependent only on English speaking skills of locals…

——— 2013_10_17——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H30 – meeting at Educational Buro (Office) again… Getting contacts and programmes for Mohoni woreda. Unfortunately, the system of information sharing doesn´t work properly and for different pieces of information it is necessary to find always the right person. It is time consuming…

Yesterday, today and tomorrow, there are staff and students meeting about organisation, challenges, risks and dangers, especially religious and social ones. The awareness is never enough… But not everybody has to be present… Me and couple of students, we headed to Martyrium Monument and War Museum to understand modern history and to visit architectural pride of Mekele…

——— 2013_10_18——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Timetable for Elementary school and Innovation workshop is finalised and approved by Architecture Design Chair of faculty, Mr. Netsanet Sorri. The studio has 3 sections by 33 students per each, the teaching team is composed by 6 teachers, 2 teachers permanently per one section and me as a lecturer and “floating” teacher for all sections.

——— 2013_10_20——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

14H30 – afternoon visit of neighbor school and irrigation dam. It is Sunday, voluntarily for students – nobody came:D

——— 2013_10_21——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – first “serious” lecture of the workshop… Surprisingly we have started on time, and minute by minute more and more students were coming. We have spent about 3 hours together, playing “architecture” and presentation games… If u r interested in pdf presentation we used, contact me and I will share it with u…

——— 2013_10_22——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

The university campus is full of surprises, in this case very pleasant one…

——— 2013_10_23——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – second lecture about case studies form all over the world, presentation about Mr. Kere, Mme. Heringer, TYIN architects and many others… Part of the morning was dediacted to students presentation of international case studies, to their sketches and ideas about elementary schools…

——— 2013_10_24——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

10H30 – first “intervention” into Landscape Architecture lecture … I was invited by Andrew Tadross as a guest, an architect with experience from West Africa to give some thoughts about Landscape design…

——— 2013_10_25——– Mekelle_Mohoni_Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

6H00 – the meeting was announced for 6 am of international time, 0:00 of Ethiopian time…

9H00 – the tru departure was 3 hours later… Welcome to reality;) But any way, we can consider it as a success;)

11H00 – arrival to Mohoni, picking up the representative of local Educational Board who was supposed to be our guide and to give us all required information

We have visited two schools of different quality and capacity level, both of them rather temporary. Our students took their notes, pictures, they were sketching and interviewing both the children and teachers. They personally suffered from the heat, which made them to think about physical and scientific aspects of the school structure. Their assignement for weekend is to prepare presenattion about local case study based on their field trip experience…

——— 2013_10_26——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

10H30 – assistance at second lecture of the Landscape Architecture, topic was Concept Development… So, I had some thougts to say, I am very thankful for this experience when I could get to know 3rd year students, their ideas and concept percieving…

——— 2013_10_28——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – lecture about local case studies and possible innovations, different global attitudes like “Form follows function (Sullivan), Form follows profit (Rogers) and Form follows feeling (Strabucks)……… students´presentation of site analysis…

——— 2013_10_29——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Today, we got very SAD news…. The AFCP will not support the preservation project of The Bani Mosques. The reason? It is too “real” and not enough scientific. unfortunately out of the objectives that the AFCP is focused on…

And what is even WORSE, the mining company IamGOLD has decided not to finance the preservation either… Why? The crises in their industry made them to restrict all financial resources for community development…

Maybe we lost the battle, not the war… Let´s keep rocking!!!!!!!!

——— 2013_10_30——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – lecture about specific innovations in Southern Nations Region, finalising teams in all 3 sections of students

——— 2013_10_31——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – entrance exam for freshmen… a lot of administration all around the faculty, everybody freaking out with organisation either the exam itself or the afterexam football match… The workshop is stucked nowhere…

——— 2013_11_01 ——– Mekelle_Wukro ———

——————————————————————————————

18H00 – pleased to join a group of American Peace Corps organising TigrayTREK282 – 8 days of running from the North to the South of Tigray (282km allover). Through this event, they hope to promote the importance of education and raise funds to benefit imagine1day, which is an organization dedicated to the provision of equal access and high quality education for Ethiopian children. imagine1day supports infrastructural improvements (building schools, libraries, latrines) as well as capacity building (teacher development, business literacy, and leadership training), and more information about specific projects can be found on their website: www.imagine1day.org

——— 2013_11_02 ——– Wukro_Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

05H00 – departure for about 46km of running in the mountains with at least 2200m of altitude… Realised that next time the flag of CiglerMarani and the Czech Republic is NEEDED!!! 13H30 – arrived to Mekelle, exhausted, but happy!

16H00 – awareness activity of Ms. Hannah Yang and her colleagues! Bravo for everybody who has energy not only for running, but also organising the education and “fun” for kids…

——— 2013_11_03 ——– Mekelle_Adigulem ———

——————————————————————————————

06H00 – pleased to join the TigrayTREK282 also for Sunday! I was running for only 2 days of running to attract the attention on the “hot” issues of Ethiopia… and I felt unlimited excitement and worries about these brave people who run complete 282km track!!

——— 2013_11_04 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

8H00 – workshop continues in great spirit, new energy, fresh ideas, brave experiments are coming…

——— 2013_11_06 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

10H00 – cactus bricks experiment… mixing everpresent common material – cactus – with soil and straw to produce bricks. The cactus juice substitutes water…

——— 2013_11_08 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

10H00 – plastic bottle bricks experiment…

——— 2013_11_13 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

8H00 – new experiments…

——— 2013_11_14 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – distribution of invitations…

——— 2013_11_15 ——– Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

8H00 – scientific load-bearing and resistance examinations of the plastic bottle bricks…

——— 2013_11_17——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – final lecture about presentation preparation and following experiments on cactus-based building materials…

——— 2013_11_18——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Preparing various documents for the Department of Architecture, amongst others also Model Making Studio Guidelines. We intent to open M-M-Studio for the use of entire university… “The primary users are students of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, but any of currently enrolled students, faculty or staff members are welcome to come and work in the shop. The goal is to share experience, techniques, materials and ideas… Everybody who wants to become a member (architecture students obligatorily) has to attend and understand (pass a test) a general workshop orientation, which defines studio rules, culture, safety, liability and practices as well as identifies various resources to consult for additional training and information…” The documents contents monitoring, safety rules, discipline measures and brief advice about model making techniques…

——— 2013_11_19——— Mekelle_Ashegoda ———

——————————————————————————————

14H00 – visit of the largest wind farm in Africa… The 1st phase of 120 MW Ashegoda wind farm in Ethiopia was officially inaugurated on 26 October 2013. Now when it´s fully online it’s expected to produce around 400 million kWh a year….

The project was announced in 2008 and was constructed over the last few years in a series of stages. The exceptional fact about the first stage installation is that these wind mills have only two blades and a part of the facility is placed on the ground in separate containers – not in the height of the “cockpit” that counts 70m – this feature is said to have advantages in maintainance and noise level…

Thirty wind mills of the 1st phase were implemented by French company Vergnet whose engineers Guillaume Hardy and Arthur Chevalier guided us with professional explanation… So, MERCI!;)

——— 2013_11_20——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Preparing various documents for the Department of Architecture, amongst others also Memorandum of Understanding between EiT-M and CMU… hopeful collaboration in future…

——— 2013_11_21——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

Hard working before the final presi… Everybody is busy and awake for eternity… It doesn´t matter where u practice architecture – the Czech Republic, Russia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopie… The sleep is only by reward…

——— 2013_11_22——— Mekelle ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – final presentation of the workshop Think globally and act locally!!! in agricultural hall in Arid Campus… Attended by people from Education Buro (kind of ministry of education), from Mohoni woreda that we designed the schools for, from Department of Civil Engineering, from University management…

BRAVO for all our students! Entire batch succeeded to bring posters, models and digital presentations! And we were lucky with only TWO BLACKOUTS!

15H00 – evaluations and goodbyes! The students were supposed to fill up the evaluation forms and to give comments… One of them is here to show up their interest in future workshops…

Saying Goodbye is too difficult!!! Hopefully, we can rather say See U Soon!!!

——— 2013_11_23——— Mekelle_Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

4H30 – pick up at the campus gate by a young French gentleman from Vergnet…

4H45 – registration at SelamBus station

5H45 – true departure from Mekelle with the direction New Flower – Addis Abeba!

20H33 – arrival to Meskel Square, main meeting point in Addis Abeba

21H00 – pick up by a young Czech gentleman from PIN…

——— 2013_11_24——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 –  Ethiopian GreatRUN in Addis Abeba – the best city run (PARTY) I´ve ever done!!! No rival in Europe… 37 000 people dancing, singing, having fun… I didnt even realise that 10Km had passed!!!

——— 2013_11_25——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – voila, back at People in Need – 3 weeks of intense cooperation in front of us! Let´s rock!!!

20H00 – As I said, saing goodbye is sad and difficult. Today we accompanied dear “colleagues” form PeaceCorps to Bole Airport. Mr. Andrew Tadross (lansdcape architecture teachet at Mekele Uni) and Rashad Ghaffar (guest lecturer about community engagement) succesfully finished their two years service in Ethiopia. BRAVI, tutti due!

——— 2013_11_26——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – evaluations and reports! and retouching photos! OMG!!

17H00 – evaluation meeting with Ephrem Ningussie, a teacher from Mekele Uni in Addis Abeba. When Mohamad cant get to the mountain, the mountain has to come at him:D

Btw. The construction of the city railway is in full swing – Addis looks like bombed out…

——— 2013_11_27——— Addis Abeba_Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – evaluations and reports! and retoooooouching photos! OMG!! again!!!

13H00 – boarding on the car to Hawassa, again 6 hours in car in front of us! Luckily, the landscape is so entertaining;)

16H00 – kiss movement in Butajira (meaning exchanging cars Addis car went back to Addis, Hawassa car picked us up and drove to the final destination)

19H00 – long journey was made even longer by police check points (the security in Ethiopia gets worse after a murder of one German tourist in Hawassa, police shooting and wounding one German expat in Addis, and robbing and cutting throat of one expat in Addis…)

——— 2013_11_28——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – back on board with Mr. Bereket, the civil engineer from PIN, responsible for elementary school contruction…

——— 2013_11_30——— Hawassa_Woininata ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – school opening ceremony!!!

——— 2013_12_02——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – preparing of the training for PIN engineer, focusing on bamboo construction

——— 2013_12_04——— Hawassa ———

——————————————————————————————

14H30 – training for PIN engineer, focusing on bamboo construction

——— 2013_12_05——— Hawassa_Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H30 – checkout of a community seed bank constructed in agriculture programme of PIN, handover to community, improvement suggestions

13H00 – 6 hours in a car to get to stucked Addis Abeba

——— 2013_12_06——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – meeting at the Czech embassy – presenting our work in Ethiopia and futur intentions…

11H00 – meeting at the EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Cunstruction and City Development) with people from the Chair of Housing and Urbanism and Ms. Melat Assefa to discuss futur possibilities of cooperation, needs in research collaboration

13H00 – passive participation in Addis Abeba University in BarCamp

——— 2013_12_08——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

roaming around the city… Where are the limits of consciousness and common sense? Is overstepping transgressive act a perfect marketing manoeuvre or a simple lack of decorum awareness?

——— 2013_12_09——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

12H00 – governmental standards of school construction in Ethiopia…

18H00 – final meeting about the school design innovations with PIN head of mission Petra Matulová

——— 2013_12_10——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – visit of UN headquarters, meeting with people from UNEP – consulting design and graphics of TUNZA

——— 2013_12_11——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – design and graphics of TUNZA

——— 2013_12_12——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – opening ceremony of newly established Women SelfHelpGroup, taking pictures with the presence of the first lady of Ethiopia (paparazza Soly) for fundraising purposes of PIN… Some pix of the ambiance here…

——— 2013_12_13——— Addis Abeba ———

——————————————————————————————

9H00 – final meeting in PIN

——— 2013_12_15——— Addis Abeba_Niamey(NG)_Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

9H50 (UTC + 3:00) – taking off from Bole Airport back to tropics!!! The temperature in Addis is less then uncomfortable in the morning, so it is better to go…;)

11H00 – true departure

16H00 – stop in Niamey, fresh new destination of Ethiopian airlines – problems with airport tower, another delay…

16H00 (UTC – 1:00) – landing in Ouagadougou… finally… but no baggage appeared… The delay and complications are not enough, let´s go for more bureaucracy in Ouaga airport…

18H30 – getting on board of bus to Bobo Dioulasso direct after getting a promise that my backpack will be flew to Bobo as soon as possible as “rush” article

00H30 – arrival back home

——— 2013_12_16——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

05H30 – woken up by muezzin´s calling from neighbor mosque

14H00 – meeting in local CCF (centre culturel francais) with the representatives of Kafuli, organizing next steps about promotion and the “shelter” construction

Bienvenue au pays de cyclistes…

——— 2013_12_17——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

09H00 – installing my office in CCF at the exposition of art and craft of Burkina, promoting Kafuli and CMU, but especially sitting at the computer preparing the documentation for the preservation of mosques in Bani…

light installation made of the plastic buckets in the cafeterie of CCF

——— 2013_12_18——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;) Everybody knows CMU and its work already!

20H00 – backpack in “rush” arrived!!! Finally! And only one pocket was emptied! What a relief!

——— 2013_12_19——– Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;) Everybody knows CMU and its work already!

15H00 – telemeeting with Mr. Cissé, representant of Bani, organizing next visit and handovering of the final documentation… Our cooperation is almost finished… Only few details are needed…

——— 2013_12_20——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;)

——— 2013_12_21——– Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;)

——— 2013_12_22——— Bobo Dioulasso_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

5H00 – early leaving to Ouagadougou to meet Mr. Cissé

14H00 – meeting with Mr. Nouhoum Cissé to show him our draft of documentation for the mosques stabilisation

——— 2013_12_23——— Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

12H30 – meeting with Mr. Barthélémy Kaboré, the director of DGPC – general directory of cultural patrimony, talking about possible ways how to engage Bani mosques to international programs of preservation, discussing the draft of documentation prepared by CMU

16H00 – reopening ceremony of the Music Museum in Ouagadougou, the building made of mud bricks assisted by architects from DGPC

17H30 – getting on the board of TSR bus to get back to Bobo

23H00 – back in Bobo

——— 2013_12_24——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;) Where the Xmas mood is? With the temperature higher above 35 degrees and majority of the people praying five times per day, a man is not tempted to sing Xmas carols anyway… Just another day;)

——— 2013_12_25——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking and finishing the mosques documentation in the temporary office in the CCF expo…;) Everybody knows CMU and its work already!

15H00 – meeting with the president of Kafuli – discussing about the design of bigger craft and art center in their courtyard…

——— 2013_12_26——— Bobo Dioulasso_Bani ———

——————————————————————————————

6H00 – getting into car with a long journey in front of us… at least 10 hours of driving to get to Sahel… and about 600kms to pass

12H00 – passing through busy Ouaga

13H00 – great adventure starts… after almost ages (about 5 years to be exact) I am getting behind the wheel and I am driving all way long to Bani – 230kms without any accident!!! What a success! Getting my driving skills and confidence back!

18H00 – arrival to Bani

19H00 – meeting with Mr. Nouhoum Cissé

Why in really hot and arid country do people set fire in bush? As always all argument seem logical… In past it was to scare animals and to hunt them, today it is to make environment safer, especially by the roads, the fire cleans the bush that might be unsecure for drivers, especially in a sense of animals and people entering on the road without no preceding sign…

——— 2013_12_27——— Bani ———

——————————————————————————————

5H00 – getting up to climb up the cliff to take pictures of sunrise and dimensions of mosques before the sun gets high and strong!

11H00 – my driving skills were seriously appreciated! I got a function of a driver of honor at Peulh-Dutch wedding! Watch out, everybody!!! Beep beep!

——— 2013_12_28——— Bani_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

5H00 – getting up to climb up the cliff to take pictures of sunrise and dimensions of mosques before the sun gets high and strong!

11H00 – all mosques are taken in pictures and dimensions were taken preciously!

12H30 – time to get on bus back to the civilization! 4 hours on board to Ouagadougou through Sahelian landscape

16h30 – arrival to Ouaga

——— 2013_12_29——— Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

6H00 – getting on lazy Sunday bus to Bobo!

11H30 – arrival to Bobo going straight to the temporary office in CCF to digitalize everything that has been taken in field… I cant wait to finish the brochure!!!

——— 2013_12_30——– Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

All day long clicking and finishing the mosques documentation in the temporary office! Everybody knows CMU and its work already!

21h00 – done!!! Now only to mobilize all possible patience and to send pdf to the ministry of culture in Ouaga, to DGPC – the directory of the cultural patrimony, to Prague and to Bani (to mayor, to musulman committee)…

3H00 – the internet power in Burkina is amazing…;)

——— 2013_12_31——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

7H00 – urgency from UNEP in Addis Ababa – modifications of the design for their youth conference on environment…

10H00 – getting in the temporary office in CCF, finishing the bureaucracy of the year 2013 so that tomorrow we can start fresh new year!

19H00 – meeting with representatives of Kafuli – discussing about the design of bigger craft and art center in their courtyard…

——— 2014_01_01——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

——— 2014_01_02——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

The students in Mekelle got their workshop certificates – signed by Arch. Solnická and the scientific director of EIT-M Gebremeskel Kahsay. Bravo to everybody!

 

——— 2014_01_03——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

fete de la revolution – holidays in Burkina… 

——— 2014_01_05——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Closure of Art´n´Craft Exposition in French Institute. Here we are, the team almost complete…

——— 2014_01_06-08——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Bill of quantity and budgeting of the “art and craft sheleter” in Kafuli. The courtyard is shown lower. The design presentation is coming soon here.

CMU has designed an initial shelter for craftmen with following features:

::: Local materials and simple shape – to make the courtyard more compact and united in materials and colours – unified transition between local-looking guesthouses and “modern” library
::: Local knowhow and building techniques
::: Paravents = screenwalls = vitrine – the main reason is to display the work of women and to create “airy” architecture that will not oppress the Kafuli courtyard that is not that big as it seems when it is empty…
::: Elevated floor – lighter construction because of a drainage output of the courtyard
::: Steps – transition between interior and exterior of the shelter – people are welcome to sit on it

——— 2014_01_09——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

9H30 – meeting with president of kAfULi, Mr. Ganou Seydou and Mme Petra Sajn. Finalising timeframe of the construction, responsibilities and the budget…

——— 2014_01_10——— Finland (!) ———

——————————————————————————————

When you work too much…

——— 2014_01_13——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

it is getting cold in Sahel – only 35°C and people wearing winter hats…

——— 2014_01_15——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Nice example of “recupération” – reusing, revival, recycling, whatever we want to call it… Lamp shaders in the pavillon in the French Institute in Bobo Dioulasso

——— 2014_01_16——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Association Kafuli works for the development of local community, it groups the craftmen together. The women weavers amongst them. As the result of the cooperation with Slovenian organisation Humanitas, they organised trainings in natural dying and producing of bio-materials. Some of them are sampled here… Ready to take action in CMAliv?

——— 2014_01_17——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

In a meanwhile in Addis Abeba, the design of the T-shirts, bags and look of the environmental youth conference of TUNZA and UNEP went out!

——— 2014_01_18——— Ouagadougou_Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Even in spite of the fact of being apolitical, we cannot hide from you the information that this Saturday was The Day for the movement Balai Citoyen (translated as the Civic Groom) that stands up against the Blaise Compaoré politics (inclusing his candidacy for following 5 year mandacy and the senat establishing. Peaceful but important demonstrations were organised all over the country…

——— 2014_01_20——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

Not only architecture is a good deed… At the transfusion centre in Bobo!

——— 2014_01_21——— Bobo Dioulasso_Bouroudougou ———

——————————————————————————————

How the and is excavated… Manual work with no exception!

——— 2014_01_22——— Bobo Dioulasso ———

——————————————————————————————

CMU office in Bobo will be closed for couple of weeks… See u soon!

——— 2014_01_23——— Bobo Dioulasso_Ouagadougou ———

——————————————————————————————

7H30 – supposed departure with the bus from Bobo…

11H00 – real departure!

18H00 – arrival to Ouaga…

——— 2014_01_24——— Ouagadougou_Istanbul_Prague ———

——————————————————————————————

00H50 – taking off hot desert plane – 27°C at mignight

06H00 – aclimatisation in 16°C in moderate Istanbul

17H30 – landing in picturesque Prague!!! -6°C:D

————————————————————————————-

upcoming issues

————————————————————————————-

 soly © 2013