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.

Sunday, 6 May 2007

Recharge

The first 3 weeks here have been quite a lot of work and the next ones I believe will be even worst. The slab problem needs a resolution, and all the rest will follow after that, so this weekend I took a trip to Durban, to surf and recharge my batteries…

Durban is quite a special place, Segregation would have to be the word I’d chose to define it. Founded on the Indian Ocean it became one of the biggest melting pots of Africa. Zulus, Brits, Afrikaners and Indians all came to live here. However they never quite mixed with each other.

The city has parts for some and parts for others. It’s difficult to feel welcome in all parts of the city. I was fortunate to meet people at the hostel and at the beach that made my stay more interesting and multicultural, if not for these I might have felt that the city was a quite unwelcoming place.

The city has a mix of colonial style architecture, skyscrapers, villas and shacks… The mix makes it quite a strange place to visit… Being a costal city it has also that added fascination of the sea, and all that it brings. Being the biggest Port of Africa it’s also quite an attraction and movement in and out of the city is huge.

The waves were great and I’m now ready for whatever the next few months might have in stall.
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