Nashetu-E-Maa
Practical Action
using more closely spaced battens; by testing the strength and reducing any tendency to deflect
under load and by ensuring the roof slopes from the centre down to the guttering. This somewhat
crude intervention has the advantage of being relatively low cost whilst offering the benefits of
rainwater catchment and reduced maintenance. No one community is homogeneous; there are
significant differences in assets held and income earned among the people who make up the
Maasai communities of Kajiado. Project workshops and reviews highlighted the fact that project
interventions should include improvements to existing houses in order to address the needs of
poorer people.
Polythene sheet
Cement water slurry layer
Soli / grass layer
Final layer of mortar
Chicken wire
Interwoven twigs
First layer of mortar
Figure 6: Illustration of the layers required to build a ferro-cement skin roof.
Subsequently, 6 MRTC staff, 4
local artisans and 30 women
were trained in the skills
necessary to upgrade existing
roofs.
Construction of houses in this
way, without any project
involvement, suggests this minor
intervention can have a
significant impact on people’s
lives. The inclusion of gutters
and water storage has also
resulted in additional benefits for
the women such as the increased
freedom a store of water gives
them from the daily chore of
Mrs Silole Malipe Empariya built her own ferro-cement skin
water collection and
roof. Photo: Practical Action / Lucky Lowe.
transportation. Even this small
intervention had wider
ramifications ‘…it is not easy to alter one aspect of the design in isolation. The new roof worked
extremely well and rain could not get in but neither could the smoke get out. ITDG [Practical
Action] immediately had to consider a new design of chimney. The way forward was obviously by
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