The Types of buildings in South Sudan

Buildings in the Republic of South Sudan are traditional types of structures; this nation has types of buildings inherited from their ancestors; mainly the three major ethnic groups of Nilo-hamids, Nilotic and the Bantus.

They have a distinct ways of building their houses using grass, palm leaves and paprus from the nile bank and applying ebony wood for poles and mud for the walls and fencing it with thick wood plunks to protect them from attacks by wild animals such as lions, hyenas, elephants etc.

New / modern buildings are recently introduced during the colonial era by the British and these skills are yet practice in the urban towns. The materials use for building using modern skills are either imported from abroad or excavated locally from the ground and the materials excavated within includes lime, cement and crude oil use as DPC material (Damp Proof Course material) - for details of these skills and the types of materials - check photos from flickr.com.

UNSTABLE GROUND IS A RISKY FOUNDATION

" Black Cotton Soil might be cracking and unstable causing severe cracks in foundations and walls again might cause buildings to collapse"

Figure [1] The wall thickness
is one and half brickwall,
flemish bond, built on black
cotton soil.A perpendicular
cracks are seen at the face of
the walls [Malakal].

A building on unstable ground has a risky and might result in a collapsed of building. The foundation is affected by severe cracks as shown in figure [1]. Although thick walls built in English and Flemish bonds are applied for the construction [figure 1]; the foundation is yet at risk, the wall may need maintenance.
The cracks may cause undue settlement to the building, making the foundation unstable and the building collapse without taking its expected lifespan.This type of ground is sometimes called Black cotton soil (Vertisols); it is a type of the ground seasonally changing its nature; swelling in wet seasons and shrinking with severe cracks in dry seasons. 
Typical examples of these soil are found in Malakal, Upper Nile state and at Juba-Nabari in Central Equatoria state/ Republic of South Sudan.

Figure 2: Cracks penetrating from the
ground, making walls to collapse.

There is need to share ideas, techniques and approaches for successfully building of houses on loose ground; shared ideas enable us to minimize penetration of the massive cracks into the buildings which causing buildings to collapse.

The  the rate of cracks rapidly expands from the foundation of the building and penetrates to the eaves when the roof weigh intensifies as shown is figure 2 are the effects of the unstable ground movement related to the nature of the soil. Those  building materials which are used in the construction and  yet cracking continue need modification or improvement of skills to minimized the cracks.
 My point of departure is “how shall I build safe and durable houses on loose grounds, and what are the types of buildings, materials, and applicable techniques?

 

A SOCIETY WITH A GOOD VISION

A society that requires solutions for their challenges is that community which has a good vision than that which demands humanitarian aids.

Some of the needs in the society that I had identified are the minimization of cracks in buildings, reactivation of traditional building culture and the ability for getting the solutions to meet this challenge requires collective contribution of ideas of how we together can get the solutions.
 

I will be encouraged to learn more from others, how they are being faced by this challenge within their community/society and how did they managed the cracks in their buildings or building practice?

These collective contributions of ideas will enable me and the society to solve or reduce the effect of the challenges facing the society.

For contributing ideas to this challenge and sharing, my contact e-mail address – <immasamuel@yahoo.com >, URL -< http://nucoop-romano.blogspot.com >this the lines in which the contribution and sharing links can be obtained or write direct using the e-mail address above.

Quality; a big challenge in the building practice

Definition – is a measurement of standard of work that determines its strength, appearance, durability etc. lack of quality always resulted to failures in building practice.

In a building, a wall develops cracks and it is rooted down to the foundation trench and later affects the artificial foundation which is built to carry the loads of the superstructure. These cause the building to collapse without taking its lifespan.

Identification of the challenges for achieving quality work in building practice:

The cracks that affect the foundation wall emerge from the ground, defending on the type of the soil on which the building is built on. For example, there are minor cracks seen in walls built on moderate firm ground than those build in black cotton soil.

The cracks that cause the building to collapse normally emerge from the base of the projecting perpendicularly to the eaves of the building causing weakness to wall to resist the weight of the roof and causing it to give way and eventually causing total collapsing of the building structure.

The cracks cause failure in achieving the quality work in the building practice and with this, there is a need to find solution for this challenge.

In black cotton soil, the ground normally shrinks in dry season and swells in wet season that causes a lot of climatic atmospheric changes which resulted to cracks greatly than in the moderately firm ground.

What shall be done to improve the failures of quality of work in the building practice that is cause by the cracks?

What skills shall be applied to eliminate the cracks that emerge right under the wall foundations which greatly cause the collapsing of buildings?

I could  like the viewers, readers and professionals of this field to give me a help, so as to overcome this crucial technical challenges stated as above in this article.

QUALITY & SAFETY ARE THE GOAL IN PRACTICE

Every professional practice displayed has the intention of obtaining quality as virtue and it may depend on the performer, the design and the elements of the physical environment –Mariam (1988).

Obtaining of this facts requires research and methods depending on the purpose, for example when builders and carpenters complaints of quality of their structures and furniture; carpenters may suspect  poor application of skills practices such as inadequate processions of joints in the joinery work; and builders may have challenges from practical techniques for selection of foundation designs for building foundation structure due to lack of experience and knowledge in testing the soil stratum;  lack of experience in setting architectural building designs causing incorrect corners of the buildings that culminated to collapse of structures and poor mixtures of the materials use for construction of structures. Other technicians like electricians may try to improve their safety rules and regulations for the purpose of reducing risks in their electrical work which has deteriorated due to lack of activities.  

To improve the quality of practice needs constant work practice and utilization of the research method – action research through observation use as the tools to systematically describe the events, behaviors of the environment and the purpose to be address – Marshall and Rossman (1989, P.79).

Digging out the problems require researching techniques as Donald A. Shön wrote is The Reflective Practitioner – How professionals Think in Action, quote; “Production engineers use theories and techniques of statistical analysis and optimization to solve problems of product quality and production efficiency”.- Argyris and Shön, DA (1974).

Again he contested that, quote “construction engineers apply the results of research on soil conditions and building structures to select types of building foundations.”  Argyris and Shön, DA (1974) Theory in practice: increasing professional effectiveness.

I have to agree to this recitation and consider my documentation valid, assuming that - an occupation moves craft to profession as it approximates this model of technical problem solving, and it becomes science based as its techniques are grounded in the theories of basic and applied science.

QUALITY IN CONSTRUCTION IS AN ACHIEVEMENT.

High standard work can be achieved for strength, durability, stability; pleasant appearance and building practitioners recommends quality as the object of the building practice.
In black cotton soil, quality work in building the foundation can be realized when soil investigation is conducted and the trail pits results can determine the foundation design which shall be in accordance to the soil capability

The recommended typesof foundation designs for black cotton soil include – the reinforced concrete with slab for shallow, strip or raft foundations and Pile foundation for deep foundations.

The swelling and shrinkage in black cotton soil around the built foundation walls can be isolated by consolidating a 20cm wide space at either sides of the foundation walls with hard core and 30cm space from the bottom.

 Quality is achieved by the building practitioner through competency and sequential process in applying procedures of work.

CHALLENGES FACED BY ENGINEERS/DEVELOPERS IN WORKING ON BLACK COTTON SOIL:

The black cotton soil (expansive soil) spreads all over the world continents of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, United States, South America and Australia.

The greater black cotton soil is considered most lying on the savannah zone where the environment is hot; the atmospheric temperature frequently change this semi-arid tropics can be found of level land and in depressed smaller areas on hill slopes.

According to researcher John Greenfield, who has written an article about using vetiver for stabilization and protection of the black cotton soil; 3% of the world’s cultivatable soils are black
cotton soil; in Africa, the youngest republic of South Sudan has approximately two third of its land soil is composed of black cotton soil stretching from the borders with Sudan and Ethiopia, entering deep to the interior of the country, out of ten states of the republic, six states has been assumed to be having the black cotton soil; namely upper Nile, Unity, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Jongulei, Lakes states and Abyei area.
The black cotton soil has a greater challenge to experts, engineers, investors as well as the developers, those investors or donors coming to invest in the country with wholesale programs which have been executed successful in other countries are faced with failures to use as second hand programs.
There is need for researchers to come in and to thoroughly work on how to design and apply developmental programs on the black cotton soil before implementing any program from agriculture activities to building infrastructures.
What contribution shall you offer in solving these challenges of black cotton soil being faced in this nation?

This question, I posted to anyone/reader who comes across this article to give his/her contribution from knowledge, skills and experiences of dealing with black cotton soil.

DUTIES AFTER GRADUATION IN THE BACHELOR’S DEGREE PROGRAM AT TVET

To become a professional competent teacher for technical and vocational education college, training institute, secondary school and centre; require pursuing studies in University College in technical and vocational education for teachers.
A professional teacher should have a wide range of academic background, he/she have to acquire before taking up job description or duties that will assure him/her of the competencies in the disciplines pursued.
As I am pursuing my studies for becoming a professional teacher, I must make sure to acquire the necessary competencies that will qualify me to have the following duties in the employment:

·Teach/ instruct using techniques such as lecture, demonstration, field assignment, field placement
·Develop curriculum
·Prepare and mark examination
·Evaluate student performance and assignment
·Organize workshops, seminars and shorter courses
for industrial workforce

The following characteristic:
·Good oral and written communication skills
·Shared knowledge
·Enthusiasm for subject areas
·Ability to identify with student aspirations and offer sound advice

To realize the above values, characteristics and innovations for taking up the duties, what shall be the requirements for achieving those values that will qualify you to graduate a professional competent teacher?

SYMBOLIC VALUES FOR LEARNING

Competency Based on Training in technical and vocational education on symbolic values.

Telling “How To Do”,
Not Telling “What To Know”
Competency based training is a structured approach to training and assessment that is directed toward achieving specific outcomes. It is about assisting individuals to acquire skills and knowledge so that they are able to perform a task to a specified standard under certain conditions. In competency based training, the outcomes to be achieved are clearly stated so that learners know exactly what they have to be able to do, trainers know what training or learning is to be provided and organizations know the skill levels required of their people; for example, working on wiki, Google Docs, building structures etc. The emphasis in competency based training is on "performing" rather than just "knowing" alone. A competency is defined in terms of what a person is required to do (performance), under what conditions it is to be done (Conditions) and how well it is to be done (standards) are the achievements of the symbolic values.