At the heart of Mukwala Village in Phalombe District, dozens of children once sung, played and learned in a church building condemned as a death trap.
Its rusty roof was leaky, walls cracked, bricks crumbling and windows falling apart.
The children had been learning in the dilapidated prayer house since May 2020 when some women, learning how to cook nutritious home-grown foodstuffs, decided to give young people a solid start to schooling.
Nutrition promoter Verina Mathewe is among the 10 caregivers who provide ECD services to 137 children at Mukwala Community Based Childcare Centre (CBCC). They include her two daughters.
the 3D-printed CBCC took shape
Throughout, the caregivers and parents feared for their children’s safety at the church battered in March 2023 by Cyclone Freddy alongside 108 houses in the vicinity.
But a solution has come. A novel centre has been built nearby, with walls constructed in a record time, much to the delight of the locals.
The country’s first 3D-printed CBCC is the third building of its kind nationwide.
It took shape after Mcheza Primary School built in half the time in Salima and a showhouse at 14 Trees headquarters in Lilongwe. There are similar initiatives in Kenya and Madagascar.
“The technology is quite simple,” says Nina Parczew, the construction manager at 14 Trees. “It involves a special printer placing mortar layer after layer. Each layer measures 30 millimetres and the roof is supported by concrete pillars as the single-layer wall isn’t meant to carry heavy loads.”
The CBCC comprises three classrooms. It is complete with a washroom, storeroom, kitchen, sleeping room, an office and a fence.
Besides, it has a solar-powered water system that supplies clean water to the facility and the surrounding community.
The rural community watched in jubilation the computerised machine layering ‘cement ink’ like spinning yarn to offer children a safer learning space in a record time.
Inking a layer of porridge-like cement on top of another until the 2.5 metre-high superstructure was complete, the contractor used no brick or pole–saving Malawi’s waning forests.
As workers plastered the walls and fitted the roof, architect Parczew explained: “We encourage 3D printing technology because it’s about zero waste, it requires few hands, it’s sustainable and provides more comprehensive strength than conventional building methods associated with burnt bricks.
The beauty of 3D-printed structures is speed. The CBCC took just 30 hours.
“The building could have taken 20 to 30 days with conventional building methods, but we completed it in two segments of 15 hours each. A bigger printer could have taken fewer hours,” the architect bragged.
The world’s longest-running cyclone that affected more than 2.2 million people across the Southern Region—displacing 660 000 persons and claimed 679 lives—learning at Mukwala CBCC stopped for two weeks as widening cracks and swamped walls threatened children’s lives.
The Unicef National Committee in Germany funded construction of the 3D-printed CBCC to accelerate access to quality and inclusive lifelong learning for children in the area.
Group Village Head Mukwala donated her farmland for the CBCC.
“CBCC activities offer children a firm foundation and better chances of succeeding in school and later in life, but it starts with a favourable environment. Interestingly, this is the first of its kind in the country: Quick, durable and beautiful,” the chief states.
Verina could not wait for her children to shift to the new centre with basic services under one roof.
“We thank the Unicef Germany for coming to our rescue after being persuaded by our dedication and the risk faced by the children,” she says.
The CBCCC opened last year comes in recognition of Mukwala Village’s enviable standing as a shining example of community participation in the fight against malnutrition.
Thanks to dedicated community volunteers like Mathewe, they have integrated some of the nutrition interventions, including provision of nutritious home-grown meals to children at the CBCC. n
