I recently published an article about Build with Gambia, the earth architecture workshop that I led last year with the goal of building a dormitory for a new rural vocational school in Gambia. This project was founded by Nka Foundation, a US based non-profit organisation whose mission is to serve underserved communities in Africa. Nka Foundation works in particular by establishing rural vocational schools, known as Arts Villages, where local youths can learn practical skills that can help them find employment. The pilot project of the NGO was Abetenim Arts Village in the small village of Abetenim in the Kumasi Region of Ghana, founded in 2009. After I left Gambia I got a chance to visit Abetenim Arts Village and gain insights into how the project has developed over the years.
While Nka Foundation established the project, the real driving force behind the project has been the locals at the grassroots, aided by hundreds of international volunteers who have led and participated in various earth architecture workshops that have shaped Abetenim Arts Village. Promoting modern earth building techniques – in particular rammed earth – as a sustainable and local alternative to concrete blocks has been one of the main goals of these workshops. As a result, Abetenim now has a group of locals who are skilled in rammed earth construction and believe in the technique. From this movement a new non-profit organisation, Rural Africa Development Foundation (RADeF), has recently emerged, and this NGO is now taking the concept further to build rammed earth classrooms in other villages of Kumasi Region.
Vocational training at Abetenim Arts Village
The funding of Abetenim Arts Village relies mainly on donations made by international workshop participants who come to Abetenim to learn about earth building by participating in the construction of the school. The first buildings built at the Arts Village were dormitories that would house these international volunteers and later also local students. From this base, the first workshops built primary and junior high school classrooms in Abetenim and a few surrounding villages, acknowledging that basic education needed to be provided before vocational training. The focus then shifted back to developing the original Arts Village site in Abetenim.
Abetenim Arts Village is to be a vocational school where local youths can continue their education and learn useful practical skills that can help them earn a livelihood. The school is meant to serve the whole region, not just the village of Abetenim. Even though the school is still under construction, educational activities have started and the school has been teaching how to weave traditional kente fabrics. One old man from Abetenim has also been planning to teach basket making.
Unfortunately, the chief of one larger village close to Abetenim has been trying to stop the project since 2017. It is unclear why he is doing this or what will be the future of the project. For now there are no activities going on at the Arts Village because of this, but the chief of Abetenim has said that there have recently been steps made in the right direction. A lot of time and money has already been invested into building the school, and both the NGO and the community of Abetenim are hoping that the project can continue soon.
Promoting modern earth building
Another goal of Abetenim Arts Village has been to promote modern earth building techniques as a sustainable alternative to concrete blocks. There is a tradition of earth building in Ghana, but many people see earth houses as poor and not durable. The most common earth building technique in Abetenim is atakpamé, a local cob technique whereby houses are built by molding balls of earth into walls. Wattle and daub is another common vernacular technique in Ghana.
The first dormitories at Abetenim Arts Village were built using the local atakpamé technique, after which the focus shifted to rammed earth. Rammed earth is a technique whereby earth walls are built by pouring a mixture of sand and clay into a formwork where it is compacted or rammed in small layers. The locals of Abetenim now see rammed earth as a stronger alternative to atakpamé, and another benefit of the technique is that it requires less water and mixing, even though the ramming is labour intensive. Generally, the rammed earth buildings built by Nka Foundation and RADeF have a small amount of cement (3 to 7%) for stabilization, or else there is a lot of gravel in the mix. Other earth building techniques have also been experimented with at Abetenim Arts Village.
Abetenim Arts Village is a vocational school, and the construction of the school has already taught the local youths useful practical skills, particularly rammed earth construction. In fact, using the construction of the school as a form of education has been one of the goals the project. Earth building requires more labour than using industrially produced materials but it reduces material costs – meaning that a higher percentage of the budget goes to supporting the local economy.
During my visit I met one of four locals who have been involved in the construction of all buildings built by Nka Foundation and RADeF. These four are now experts in rammed earth construction, and they have even built a rammed earth house for one family in the village who wanted to do it because it was cheaper than using concrete blocks. In 2013 they were also asked to build a rammed earth guesthouse in Cape Coast after someone saw the Abetenim projects online.
Building classrooms through earth architecture workshops
In the beginning the locals of Abetenim had a hard time understanding the Arts Village project, but over time people have come to see the benefits. The local people are hoping that the problems with the chief will be solved soon so that educational activities at the Arts Village can continue. Meanwhile, RADeF has taken the concept to start building primary and junior high classrooms in other villages in the Kumasi Region. In Ghana, there is a lack of finances for building schools, but once classrooms are built, the government sends teachers. Most villages have a primary school but lack a junior high school, meaning that students have to walk long distances to continue their education. In many cases junior high schools are located so far that sending children there would be a financial burden on the family. As a result, many children drop out of school after primary school.
RADeF was founded in 2016 in order to move to other villages, while Nka Foundation is only focused on Abetenim Arts Village. RADeF is also supporting educational activities in rural Ghana in a variety of ways, not only through construction. When you see children in Ghana out of school, in many cases the reason is that they are missing uniforms or something else. RADeF has been providing students and schools with educational materials and also sponsoring students.
In 2018 the focus of RADeF shifted to the village of Korasi where RADeF has started extending the existing primary school. The first two classrooms were built in 2018 and the school started using these classrooms immediately. Now there is space for a junior high school, and the children don’t have to walk 9 km to school anymore. The master plan for the school includes another classroom, a library and a staff room. RADeF is also planning to build an accommodation unit in the village to house international volunteers so that they can continue to surrounding villages, as was done in Abetenim.
Many people interested in sustainable building want to learn how to build with rammed earth, which is why they are willing to come to Ghana to participate in workshops to build rammed earth schools. The resulting network of volunteers is very powerful for RADeF. Many volunteers have sent donations from home and many have also returned to do more projects. Indeed, it is networking with international volunteers that has kept the projects going, first in Abetenim and now in Korasi. Volunteers build a connection to the village, and when they return home they are more willing to do fundraising, knowing where and to whom the money goes.
The classrooms built by RADeF are more spacious than government schools, while they are also generally cheaper than typical concrete block classrooms in Ghana. The rammed earth walls also create a cooler indoor climate than typical concrete block schools which can be unbearably hot. What’s more, the children like the classrooms and their uniqueness: when the first classroom in Korasi was finished, all the classes wanted to use it and those left out were disappointed. The work of RADeF and Nka Foundation shows that rammed earth is indeed a viable alternative to concrete blocks, and the locals on the ground are now motivated to build more sustainable schools in Ghana.
