Nashetu-E-Maa
Practical Action
consultation.’ Other new houses then incorporated improved stoves, with better energy efficiency,
cowlings and chimneys to improve smoke extraction.
Harvesting from the skies
The inclusion of water harvesting in housing design has been a major benefit and crucial to the
success of ferro-cement technology. The incorporation of a gutter and storage jar has brought
many benefits in to alter one aspect of design in particular to women, who carry the
responsibility for providing water for their families: ‘I used to spend a lot of time fixing my walls
and roof and the trek to get water from long distances was very tiring. When we all have houses
like mine, we shall be able to find solutions to the other problems, which face us’ said Nolari
N’Kurana of Naning’o Women’s Group.
Stabilised soil block walling
Early initiatives taken by ASAL and the Ministry of Public Works working with women’s groups to
address their housing needs led to the construction of modern houses using stabilised soil blocks
(SSBs) but these were felt to be unsuccessful due to their inexperience with this technology.
SSBs are produced by careful selection, extraction, sieving and mixing of soil with a small
percentage of cement, which is then compressed in a moulding machine.
The blocks are then cured and
laid in a bed of mortar to
produce walling. This technology
has become more popular as
people have come to appreciate
the quality of walling that can be
produced and begun to equate it
with high status cement based
products. It is now being used to
build schools and appears to be
popular with artisans since they
are able to make a reasonable
living from producing and
building with it. It is not possible
to say whether the technologies
Stabilised soil block machine and stack of blocks curing in
the shade of a tree. Photo: Practical Action / Theo Schilderman.
which have been developed are
affordable in comparison with
existing technologies which are not cash based. However, Stabilised soil relative to other options
such as stone or burnt brick the technologies being developed and promoted by the project in
Kajiado are more affordable and thereby accessible to the majority of people.
The project has developed a range of technological options in order to create choices, not to
impose solutions. It has become apparent that to meet the needs of the poorest members of the
Maasai community small improvements to existing houses and housing practices have been the
most accessible, and therefore, most popular housing options. Other elements of design, such as
increased roof height and larger windows have been taken up by people who continue to use
traditional methods of construction and in that way, small incremental improvements have
resulted in some benefits.
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