We are working with an NGO called HELP Malawi. They built a primary school and are needing to build more buildings like an administration and library but first a church. The land was donated by a local village church. The village church actually housed classes while the school was being built, but last rainy season the mub brick, grass thatched building collapsed. Peace Corps has a stablized soil block press so we are barrowing it so that HELP Malawi can use it to make bricks. The traditional style of brick making is done by lots of mud and water pressed into molds then they are sun dried and stacked for firing. They burn an enormouse amount of trees in order to fire them so we introduced this press that requires little water, and a mix of clay, sand, and cement (like 10 to 2 to 1)then they slow dry covered in grasses and watered daily... no firing. Also the press we have make interlocking bricks so no morter requiried!
Dan is another Peace Corps Volunteer who came to Malawi when we did, he has also extented for a third year. He has used a stablized soil block machine/press in his village and so came to teach the HELP Malawi people as well as ourselves to use the press.
they screwed on two long boards and burried them in the ground to hold the press in the ground. Bryan is standing by the lever that is pushed up and on the other end people pull down to press the bricks.
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