As one way of promoting environmentally friendly building, African Vision Malawi (AVM) is training members of the community to be using rammed earth or superadobe for construction.

All the buildings at the centre, which is some 30 kilometres from the capital city Lilongwe, were constructed using superadobe or rammed earth.

Developed by Iranian-born architect, the superadobe, a form of earthbag construction using sandbag and barbed wire technology, is an economical, time-efficient, energy-efficient and ecologically friendly system. (https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe).

While rammed earth construction is a structural building method of compressing a sandy mixture into a hard sandstone-like material. (Jackie Craven, 2018).

An instructor at the centre, George Phiri said construction using these technciques are very important because they are environmentally friendly.

“We are using either rammed earth or superadobe to build the structures at this centre. This is not a new phenomenon, our ancestors were using this method to build their houses,” he said.

According to Phiri, as a centre, they have also been teaching people in the surrounding communities on how to build using rammed earth and superadobe.

“We are teaching people in this area to embrace the modern way of building using either rammed earth or superadobe. The process is simple as compared to the other types of construction.

“When building using superadobe or rammed earth, you don’t need to involve people that will be drawing water to mould bricks. You save both time and trees for burning bricks,” said Phiri.

He encouraged the Malawi Government to adopt this way of construction as one way of preserving the environment.

“As we are imparting knowledge to the people in the surrounding areas, we also want to ensure that we are preserving the environment. The Malawi Government can borrow a leaf from this innovation,” he said.

A representative from the delegation of the European Union to Malawi, Daniele Teccarelli, commended African Vision Malawi for the initiative.

“African Vision Malawi is bringing additional knowhow on the market and therefore this innovation is commendable,” Teccarelli explains.