Back in Oslo- Lesotho so long

Friday was our last day of this trip.

We used our remaining time, before getting into the plane and traveling 22 hours back north (the plane almost didn’t take off due to the weather), to continue the discussions with K4L on how we will approach the next stages of the project.

A final site visit was also carried out and even at the airport we managed to establish contact with someone who might help us through some of the later steps.

This trip was in many ways a success and now we can plough ahead and try and make this project a reality.

Ask, ask, ask…. Ok it’s free!

If it’s not going to be made of tin then what will it be?

Our team had to split up his morning as one of us was feeling at his best.Like that two of us went off material hunting whilst the other stayed in Maseru discussing the project with K4L and getting information for the project.

In our explorations through the country side we found a quarry, where after bombarding the manger with a lot of questions we managed to get a price that looked more or less like we wanted: free!

Cutting stone is a funny business. Labour intensive, long process, and very likely to produce waste! It’s this waste that we discovered we could get for a very competitive price provided we could supply trucks and labour.

Still not sure what we can do with this stone but at least it’s a start, if we could do find more opportunities like this then maybe we could do much more!

Tin can

Another day in suits, more meetings! We are still going around in our nice jackets trying to get support from all stakeholders and partners involved.

A job which can some times detracts us from the architectural task at hand, but that has to be done, and is getting done!

We also visited some existing buildings and sport facilities so that the whole team could have a better understanding of some of the conditions and possibilities around.

However the most inspiring construction of the day must have been the tin can houses! A series of houses and small constructions made out of thousand of tin cans knit together and then with a roof on top. Not the type of system we were hoping to use for the centre but inspirational nevertheless!

Nice look

I am not the type to dress up, but today we did spend most of the day in a jacket!

I can’t really say I don’t like because although I hate the idea of dressing a jacket once I have one on I do enjoy it. Plus I do recognize the need to look smart everyone once in a while.

Anyway, that was our day today, walking around looking smart, meeting important people and trying to rally support for the project. It went well.

At the end of the day we also did a few visits, and we saw two really distinct building types, one really nice one and one not quite the same. But all of it is important and it does give us the feel for the spectrum in which we will be operating!

Making the most of what we had

Great turn out!

40+ coaches and 60+ children showed up today for the community consultation sessions.

After last nights rush with the scissors, and running around Maseru (luckily all the places I had to go to were still there) trying to find the last bits and pieces we needed to replace the materials lost with Robin’s bag, we were set to go ahead with the sessions.

They were both light touch events, aimed at trying to understand how the centre might be used and what will be the most important facilities.

Even without the fancy stickers and posters these sessions went really well, I guess we made the most out of the gear/kit we had and now all the results are tagged and bagged, ready to be interpreted and help us inform our future proposal.

Bags, lightning and scissors

Yesterday I failed to mention that Robin’s bag had been lost in Jo’burg. Probably I made nothing of it because as soon as we reported we were assured that everyone knew where it was and that it would be on its way.

Somehow I should have known better. Whilst Robin tried to find his bag Reiulf and I spend some time at the LCCU. I had time to wonder around and see how the building was aging and to take the photos that I for so long I had wanted. (for photos of this building click here http://picasaweb.google.com/pck.clarke/LCCUOneYearOn )

When we eventually met up with Robin, little was still known about his bas but Reiulf had managed to teach the some children how to draw a dog and a cow!

In a final attempt to see if it had by any chance appeared we stumbled upon the Principle Secretary for the Ministry of Sport, a very kind and nice man who had also lost his bag. Guess we have our ice breaker for when we meet him!

So with no hope of finding the bags we drove off to see some of the local vernacular architecture and get a feeling for the landscape.

We drove for a few hours, past roundavels, to the new Cultural Village (complete with recreations of the various styles of house constructions over the ages in Lesotho), and eventually found ourselves at Mohale Dam.

The rain came down on us and the lightning was intense! Great image of how harsh the mother nature can be in this country. A good design lesson for the team no doubt.

And to finish the day as the bag had still not arrived we had to find some scissors and make due with what we had. Chop, chop, chop we have made new tokens and cards for tomorrow so that we can start with the consultation process… Let the games begin!

Picking up where I left off.

It feels quite surreal to be sitting out here, in the same little house, in the same chair, with a same drink, having seen some of the same faces and having obviously visited the same building that so many times was my headache!

And surprise surprise… a small little problem! (something to resolve, nothing major).

The LCCU looks great! I was really afraid to be disappointed with it after all this time, not saying I’d do everything the same way, but at nearly one year of age, all the thatch is holding in place, the paint work looks as fresh as when I left and the courtyard battens (which I had never seen finished) work the way I hoped they would!

But, (and there is always a but), one of the things that I feared is already happening, or should I say happened. The battens were not installed to the full specification and as result one of the supporting lengths has slightly sagged and needs propping up. Nothing that will take more than 30min of work and a bit of string, for optimal result the piece should actually be changed completely (1hr work max), but it looks as though no one is actually too bothered by it… The other thing that is slightly concerning me is a new solar panel (for water heating) which is sitting on this same canopy. The canopy was not designed to sustain anything but its own wait, and over time 150lts of water will actually put quite a bit of stress on that structure… This new panel (which is quite ugly in it’s stting by the way) might also explain why a few trenches have been dug up in the concrete, but looking at them, I can make no sense of it… I will enquiry!?

Tomorrow I will go back and take some proper photos of the spaces and the building... Today Me’Lydia was not there and I feel as I need her permission to just go around taking pics of it.

But I digress (it was kind of inevitable that I would), I wasn’t even supposed to go and see the building till tomorrow, but being right next to the airport how could I resist… Anyway as I was saying the purpose of this trip (and this blog) is not for me to go down memory lane but to actually start up with Reiulf (the founder and leader of RRA, for whom I work in Oslo), Robin (head of Architecture at the recently re-branded A25, old A4A) and Pete (CEO and country director for K4L), as usual using Ntate Baba’s many talents, the new K4L centre.

The new centre will be a great addition to the youth of Lesotho and a great place to develop the K4L curriculum. In a nut shell K4L councils and teaches kids about HIV/Aids through sport, they do more than that engaging with the community and having already big numbers of active coaches for their programs working with kids all over the country, but put simple their aim is to “change people’s lives through sport (football)”.

Between the emotions of revisiting the LCCU (here I go again) and missing the equalizer goal of the big Lesotho premier league football match, the day was packed full with an introductory meeting and a cursory site visit.

The site looks really good, I’d say almost perfect (but it’s really what you do with it that counts) and it seems we are on the right track to try and get this one on the well started from the very beginning!