Mid-March. Finally we receive the keys of a compound at the outskirts of Massoko, Magburaka. During Ebola times, it served as the nerve center for Ebola-response activities. Think of storage of protection suits, boots & hygienist supplies, administration of Ebola cases, deaths registration, and payment of the high-risk allowance to health and sanitation workers as well as logisticians. For one and a half year, many Sierra Leoneans and foreign aid workers, operated in or near areas with Ebola patients; so called high-risk zones. A lot of our staff - when in a comfortable setting - tell the most horrendous stories of colleagues and friends they lost, the stress they experienced while working near patients, the awkwardness of the no-touch policy, and the contact-tracing that happens after each diagnosed Ebola-case. Our IT officer even was a suspected case himself. As such, he spend two weeks in quarantine, fearing for his life.
MSF's plan was to refurbish the big building inside the compound, to create
a cool-room warehouse for storage of medical supplies for the Magburaka
governmental hospital and six outreach locations across Tonkolilli district.
Cool means twenty-five degrees, so a couple of A/Cs and insulation material
would do the job after the 18x45m big room had been partitioned by a wall and
ceiling. The entire thingy had to be constructed and fully operational with
electricity installed and stocks moved within five weeks. The only reason we
made it, was the abundance of skilled and incredibly hard-working individuals
that we were able to temporarily employ as flexible workforce. A sequence of
events...
Before construction could start, we had to relocate its household. Amongst other things: 341 bicycles, 1 conference table, 23 conference chairs, a set of ladders, and a 16kVA generator. Other preparatory activities consisted of replacement of locks, cutting of grass and plantation as a preventive measure against snakes, and installation of water and hand-washing points
Then we made an attempt to re-paint the gate-wall...
After emptying and cleaning the room becomes clear why smart, urban hedonists were able to turn abandoned buildings of large European cities into cultural hot-spots. What a brilliant location to throw a party
To avoid artificial, cool air flowing-out, and natural mosquitoes flying-in, ventilation-windows were cemented or covered with thin metal 'mosquito-mesh'
Then, suddenly, from nowhere an angle arose who took a grinding machine to cut the lock off the large metal gate, to grant access to day-light
In the meantime, a welder was busy making a frame-sample from angle iron bars. Each frame (approx. 4.5m by 4.5m) would consists of four quadrants. At this stage, the importance of standard building-supply measures became
clear. Considering standard measures (e.g. plywood, 4x8ft; timbers, 10ft; angle
irons and PVC ceiling, 5.8m) while making the design, significantly reduces waste, hence
costs. Yes. I understand. But its quite enoying if one needs to reconsider the entire design when 4 inch short on ply-board.
Positioning poles on a wobbling floor-surface in-between skewed walls. Arghhh.. Measuring. Marking. Measuring again. Marking again. Digging holes. Fixing the first pole with mortar and ball stones [..] Starting the forth pole. Measuring again. Wrong. Marking again. Removing the first pole. And on and on and on..
The 24 angle iron frames would be closed with each four sandwich-panels. A panel is constructed from a wooden frame with PVC ceiling at the bottom, plywood on top and insulation material in-between
Then a factory-line for wooden frames was set-up
Due to the building interior (gates, reinforced concrete beams, side-room with door) each metal frame and therefore wooden-panel got slightly different measurements. Before separating frame and panel, all were tagged
The first metal frame is lifted
Wooden panels are top-side closed, and the room gets its cover
At that moment someone found Styrofoam. Not really of course. It just sounds cool..
This was the start of a puzzling-exercise to finish the sandwich panels
There even was some left-over for the partitioning wall. A real energy saver. No joke. So true
The beauty of modular construction
And then there was light at the entrance of the tunnel
The welding company that delivered a good job of welding the frames and poles, was asked to construct a metal door with look-through
Meanwhile, a support team from Freetown was busy assembling the warehouse furniture from the same angle iron bars that formed the frames. Polishing, painting...
..labeling
To give the room a face, painting was one of the final sagas
To keep the room at 'cool' temperature, we estimated 4 to 6 ACs were needed, depending the time of the year, and how good of a job the insulation material would do. Electricity supply in these contexts is mostly established through diesel generators. These could function both as permanent solution as well as back-up, given the occasional city power shut-down. At this stage I realized how little I know about current, amps, poles, load-balance, breakers, change-overs, types of cables, related color-coding, and that common sense does not make a surge hurt less or a short-circuit have less impact. (Nothing terrible happened)
Then on Sunday-night, April 9 the job was done. Not really of course. The leaking roof still had to be repaired. Due to a lack of Styrofoam we could not finish all ceiling panels. Lighting was temporal. The small side-building that would serve as the supply office required some renovation. All in all not major show-stopper so the next morning we could occupy the room with ugly boxes again..
Honestly, my role was minor. My primary task was to design the warehouse layout and purchase the construction supplies. All credit goes to my technical colleague and the team of capable and motivated daily workers, who worked there asses off. Employment is so scarce here, so apart from being a medical organization, MSF is an employer and learning opportunity for carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masons, painters or general laborers. Their hard-working mentality - inspired by their appreciation for being offered this job - really makes Sierra Leone different from any other country I have worked so far.
All in all, the whole thing was a really cool and satisfying experience. To work on something tangible like a construction project, and together make it happen in such short time frame. That was truly an unforgettable journey.
