Jinja, Uganda (AP) – Simon Titvalana dreamed of doing something for years with dirt in her small house, accusing them of getting their family sick. But in a rural area in one of the most overwhelming countries in the world, making them with concrete was simply inaccessible.
Then a company called Dearenable approached it to offer an alternative: a clay clay floor that could give it a durable, sealed below for less than half the price of concrete. Tigawalana already has the new floor in two rooms and hopes to add it soon in the last room.
“I am happy that now we have a decent home and we can also conveniently host visitors,” says Titvalana, a 56-year-old father at 16. “Ever since we received a clay floor, my children no longer receive a cough and flu that used to come from the dust as we sweep the floors of dirt.”
Dearenable, which seeks to modernize housing throughout Africa, promotes and installs clay-based floors in Uganda from 2017. In addition to eliminating dust, which can irritate breathing, they can be infected with a jigs of jigs. Uganda’s Health Ministry says that poor hygiene due to floors of dirt contribute to such infections.
“Our floors help prevent pathogens and other diseases associated with dust floors, as most of these families cannot afford hospital care,” says Noeline Mutesi, Dearnable sales and marketing manager.
How are floors built
The first step in building the floor is digging and leveling the surface. Then the mom – the local red soil, rich in iron and aluminum oxides – is mixed with sand and water and then compacted. After two weeks of drying, the Freemasons use wooden floors to smooth and further seal the surface. The following is placement: applying fine clay to smooth the surface and to prepare it as a final sealant, lacquer based on flaxseed, which hardens in a durable plastic resin.
The typical floor costs about 240,000 Uganda shillings (about $ 65), for which Earth allows it to be about 70% more cheaper than concrete. Buyers can pay in installments. Earthenable, based in the US non -profit, manages subsidiaries with profit in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya and says that every profit is invested in start -ups in new markets, as well as in research and development.
Earthenable said it was installed on about 5,000 floors in Uganda, over 39,000 in Rwanda and more than 100 in Kenya. The company also makes a wall plaster to help reduce dust, moisture and insect infection common in mud homes.
The company’s Jinja program operates more than 100 Masons from the Community. Many are disadvantaged guys who have dropped out of school because they cannot afford a taxi, said Alex Wanda, a construction officer at the company.
“We are focusing on hiring these young village guys we train in the skills to build these earth floors, thus creating employment opportunities,” Wanda said in an interview.
About 42% of Ugandi live in extreme poverty. His statistics office says the country has a home deficit of 2.6 million units and is increasing. The country has to add 300,000 residential units a year to compensate for the deficit, mainly in rural areas, where many ugandans live and where the quality of housing and availability remain urgent concerns.
More durable floor than concrete
The company also utters the clay floors as a more resistant alternative to concrete, which, in addition to being more expensive, generates large carbon emissions in production.
The cement industry is one of the largest contributions to Uganda for carbon emissions, representing about 628,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023, its highest registered level. Forts, the construction and construction represent 37% of the global emissions, according to the Environmental Nations Environment Program.
Uganda, like much of the rest of the world, observes an increase in extreme meteorological events, more likely than climate change, including floods and prolonged drought.
“Initiatives like this are crucial to the global efforts to decarbonize the construction sector,” says Pena Atwin, a Uganda -based programming officer is the environment. “Such innovative local solutions that handle both climate change and social needs such as the Earthenable model can inspire similar approaches around the world.”
“Life better life” with a cleaner floor
In the village of Budima, a re -namcosis spends the greater part of his family’s savings to build a house. She couldn’t afford a cleaner floor until she worked through Dearemable to pay for clay floor contributions. She lives there with her three children and credit the new floor to improve the health of a sick daughter.
“This is accessible to my family and will help us maintain hygiene,” she says, “We live a better life now.”
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