Up! Up! And away…

March 9th at 9pm I will fly out and the mission will begin. As a case study for finishing my diploma at FAUP (Porto Architectural School), I've decided to volunteer and join A4A (Architects for Aid) in one of their humanitarian architecture projects. The projected on which I've been assigned is the construction of the LCCU (Lesotho Children Counseling Unit) centre in Lesotho. The building has been halted and an assessment, survey and new proposal and program will be drawn up in order that the building might finish to be built. Once this is completed a second trip will be organized and I'll be overseeing the building on site. The objective of this blog is to keep record of the work that is being done, both for the benefit of the members of A4A in London, FAUP to whom I'll also be reporting, my own record as well as friends and family that might want to know what I'm up to. Please comment on any post that you have an opinion, as this will undoubtedly help me in the completion of my thesis. Disclaimer: The information displayed on this site has not been previously edited or checked by any A4A staff and I'm the sole responsible for it's contents. A4A or any of the other involved organizations are not to be hold responsible on any account for what is published on this blog.

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

High up in the mountains


The drive up to the Mohotlong is by no means an easy one but the landscape on the way there is of the nicest the country has to offer!

The mountains are amazing and the temperature shifted form 2 C when we arrived at 8am to 23 C in the afternoon.

I was accompanying Harper (Sentebale) that had a few meetings up there with the excuse of doing some research on the traditional forms of construction. So far I’ve identified 3 different ways of building Rondavlos and 3 different ways of decorating them also. Plus all sorts of possible variations.

We also set out on the (unofficial) mission of making people happy distributing sweets and biscuits to the children and adults. All in all a really rewarding day!

The surprise of the day was reserved for the end of it though. At 8:30pm I received a call form our contractor. Wanted some information about putting up a sign on site…

Shows dedication!

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