Addis Under Construction

I said I was going to write more on our trip during the last week. And frankly, I got busy. But I think I will intermix posts about our trip with posts about just life in general and then one day I will hopefully succeed in showing you our whole trip!

This post may only interest some. But I thought it was fascinating!

Addis Ababa is growing by leaps and bounds! They are in the process of building some beautiful tall buildings. Although many of them are still under construction, I look forward to going there in the future and seeing the finished product! The city is growing at such a rate that the electrical grid can not keep up so they have rolling blackouts now and then and certain sections of the city have sceduled time where they know they will not have electricity.

The thing that fascinated me was their method of construction. They did not have the big machinery you see in the United States. Everything is done with very primitive construction methods, yet the finished product is very modern and you would never know that the modern building you are visiting was built with this type of scaffolding:

All the scaffolding is made from thin trees and sticks tied together with rope. If you look at the top of the building you will see a very simple elevator.

The next picture is of a man who was working on the addition they were adding to the hotel we were in. There was no one else on site. Just him and a hammer with a ax blade on one end widdling a scaffolding stick down to size. No big machines. A lot of hand tools.

Here is the addition he was working in.

There were no bulldozers that I saw. When we first arrived at Addis, when I saw this following scene I quickly got out my camera and snapped a picture. 10 men doing the work of a bulldozer. The picture does not do it justice. Dirt was flying and it amazed me how quickly they filled up that hole!

Here is a picture from the 12th floor of our hotel looking down on the contruction site. The men were sawing the rebar with hand saws. I saw them pouring the concrete a few days later. They would make it on the ground in a small mixer (no concrete trucks) and send it up in a bucket with a crane. Fascinating to watch.
The electrician bending his poles with an old bucket of hot coals.

Anyway, I know this post will not appeal to the majority. But coming from a contruction, big equiptment, concrete background... I found the whole thing really fascinating! It is amazing what great things are built through simple means!