bottles2bricks: June 2022
June 28, 2022
The water tank is now covered and work begins on the foundation for the classroom.
June 20, 2022
Andreas’ time in Cameroon has come to an end. He has successfully trained Hans, who will be taking over from here.
Hans has extensive building experience and will lead the effort as we tackle our biggest challenge so far — creating a classroom for the children of MBalmayo.
Stay tuned for updates.
June 17, 2022
Plastering of the outhouse is complete and we have created the steel reinforcement for the water tank cover.
The next project and the most ambitious yet is to build a classroom. We start by digging the foundation.
The retaining wall is complete and a local gardener added some greenery to make it beautiful. Meanwhile, Andreas and Ahmed were busy with radio and television interviews.
June 14, 2022
The outhouse now has a roof. Our project is attracting more media coverage.
Between the outhouse, the water tank and the retaining wall, we are repurposing over 6000 water bottles.
June 10, 2022
The main structure of the outhouse is complete. To finish it off, it just needs a roof and doors.
The partially exposed bottles create a beautiful lattice pattern.
Plastering of the water tank is complete, both inside and out.
June 8, 2022
We had a minor setback. The outhouse sustained damage from heavy rains last night, but by the end of the day, it was built back to where it was before the rain.
The water tank had some cosmetic damage but nothing major. We also plastered the water tank so it is now protected from the elements.
June 6, 2022
Some feel good shots from the past few days.
June 3, 2022
As construction continues, the outhouse is attracting the attention of curious onlookers.
Certain team members were unable to await the completion of the outhouse before making an offering :-).
June 2, 2022
Lot’s going on today. Plastering is underway for the water tank and good progress on the outhouse with several layers already built.
Close up of the water tank retaining wall showing the signature binding system where each bottle is secured to four neighboring bottles.
June 1, 2022
We’ve added a retaining wall for the water tank and started construction on an outhouse.
Our goal in sending Andreas to Cameroon is not just to build things, but to transfer Andreas’ knowledge to the people of Cameroon so they can carry on this work. Today 16 trainees came to learn the technique of building with eco-bricks. They included representatives from the Red Cross, Think Green and committee members from the council.
