We are in the second week of building a model block of houses for the Badjao community at their relocation site, this is to help prevent the area becoming a slum. With only 10,000 pesos (£150) per home from the City Government, this is a slum in the making unless there’s some intervention.
So, the model home we are designing and building will have a single roof for a block of ten homes, fire resistant partitions and clothes washing/showering facilities, which makes them more cost-effective than single buildings.
The building is 16 metres by 40 metres and has a total of 55 cement posts, which raise the houses above the mud at high tide. Materials have to be carried on site by hand because of the mud and it’s hard work in the thick mud.
The foundations are the slowest part of the project but important to stop the building sinking into the mud. They are deep and wide with steel bar frames running though the cement to give extra strength.
I am on site several days every week with one other person from the KNA team (we always have a couple of people on site). I am there to help supervise the workers and to buy any necessary materials. But we all get involved and I enjoy helping the guys working – and I'm learning a few new skills in the process.
