Nashetu-E-Maa
Practical Action
Animal hides
Every family that has livestock will use the hides of those animals when they are slaughtered for
meat or die of natural causes. Without any other treatment than scraping and drying the hides
are used as a walling and roofing material. A traditional Maasai bed structure is built into the
house walls, a hide will be stretched over this platform as the ‘mattress’. Hides will also be used
to form shelters in the interim period when people relocate, before their boma is
constructed.
Ash
Ashes often contain calcium carbonate and may have stabilizing properties and reduce shrinkage
and swelling. Added to soils, ash is also known to act as a termite repellent.
The workability of the plaster mix is improved through the addition of ash.
Collaborative technology development and adaptation
Rammed earth
Early experimentation and demonstration initiatives included the construction of a rammed earth
house (also known by its French name of pisé) measuring 7.5m x 4m. The production of rammed
earth was found to be arduous and, despite adaptation of the tools used during production, this
technology was never popular with Maasai women. Popular perceptions are that this building
technology is lacking in strength. Since women know that the timber structures of their
traditional houses carry the loads; i.e. are the house’s strength, they feel rammed earth must be
weak since it has no timber elements. They also feel that if an intruder wanted to gain access
through a rammed earth wall it would be easy. Whilst popular perceptions do not always reflect
the ‘technical reality’ (there are pisé houses of several storeys which have been functional for
hundreds of years) it is difficult, if not impossible, to persuade people of the merits of a
technology which they find unattractive.
Ferro-cement housing – a lightweight option
In some areas of Kajiado black cotton soils are prevalent. These soils do not make suitable
building materials and have poor load-bearing capacities; the need for lightweight housing
options is therefore evident. It is difficult to trace the origins of ferro-cement technology since it
has been used in several countries to produce all kinds of structures such as bridges, boats,
pipes etc. A well-known technology in one location may be considered as a totally new idea in
another.
Practical Action staff, in collaboration with artisans working at the Maasai Rural Training Centre
(MRTC), experimented with ferro-cement technology which consists of chicken wire or mesh (the
‘ferro’) coated with a thin layer of cement and mortar. This enhanced understanding and
developed the necessary practical skills in order to build a housing system that would create a
more permanent, weatherproof house that could also be used to catch rainwater. The same
technology is used to construct water storage jars. One version of ferro-cement housing employs a
structural timber frame across which chicken wire is stretched before both sides are plastered.
Another version of ferro-cement technology, called ‘mortar mesh’ eliminates the need for posts
by using slightly larger steel reinforcing mesh and formwork during construction.
Ferro-cement skin roofing
The chance invention of a ferro-cement roof covering was followed up by project staff and refined
through a process of methodical experimentation i.e. trial and error! The initial idea arose from
interaction between project staff and a woman living in a traditional house within a boma where
a demonstration ferro-cement house had just been built; she complained about her leaking roof.
Together they decided to try putting a sheet of plastic over the existing structure, followed by
some chicken wire and plastered it with a cement render. Subsequently this technology has been
refined to improve its performance i.e. by taking greater care over the supporting framework; by
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