It’s almost the end of my first week of work. Tuesday was a public holiday for Liberation Day which commemorates the end of the Rwandan genocide, so I’ve actually only done 3 days’ work, but it feels like a full week already!
The MASS office is incredible – certainly the nicest I’ve ever worked in (take note, UK engineering consultancy firms!) Given that MASS is an architecture firm and they designed the fit out themselves, I suppose it should be pretty good.
This week I’ve met most of the current MASS Kigali staff. Most of the office are architects, some being full time while others are interns or on the Global Health Corps programme. There’s a mix of Rwandese and international (mainly American) staff. There is also a small engineering team:
- Rosie, currently an Engineers Without Borders Fellow (like me) but just coming to the end of her placement and about to take on a full time contract with MASS
- Christian, a Rwandese engineer who does most of the team’s site supervision work
- Obed, also Rwandese and does lots of design, including mechanical and electrical when necessary
- Shakira, also Rwandese and the newest addition to the team (apart from me!)
- Zani, an engineering student who is part of the African Design Centre
I’ve joined the team at a busy time, particularly as I think Rosie has been storing up geotechnical problems to drop on my desk the minute I arrived!
So, this week I’ve been juggling design work, checking work done by the rest of the team, and site visits. Most interestingly, I’ve been out on two site visits to a new build pre-school on the outskirts of Kigali. Construction is well underway but there are plenty of geotechnical issues still to be ironed out. Rwanda is known as “the land of a thousand hills” and that means lots of level changes are needed on site. On this site that’s being achieved by a mixture of ramps, landscaping and retaining walls. I’ve been advising on retaining wall design and construction, digging a few trial pits to get a better idea of soil properties, and carrying out some impromptu soakaway testing!
The pre-school site (spot the geotechnical “issues”!)
Me poking around in a very small trial pit, and Rosie checking the rebar for the toilet block slab
I’ve also been sampling some of the delights of Kigali. So far this week, I have:
- Ridden a couple of moto taxis – which is terrifying. So far I’ve only done it in daylight but since it’s dark at 6pm every day, at some point soon I’m going to have to venture on one in the dark…
- Been to a pub quiz, a pizza place and eaten (allegedly) the best burger in Kigali (although if that’s the case I’m not trying any others)
- Had a South African braai by a pool
- Found a couple of very hilly running routes
No wonder I’m so tired!
Rwanda Geotechnics 