A project in Dem Rep Congo, anyone interested.

[Beaverhill]

Hi Marc

Firstly, just a quick Bio. I Have a degree in Interior Design/Architecture. I spent about 15 years during and post college working with troubled teens in a wilderness setting, working part time in the off season as a carpenter/ shipwright. In 2000 I started my business as a woodworker, primarily building Yacht interiors and then moving into custom furniture, cabinets etc. I currently live in a small town in the cascade mountains called Plain, near Leavenworth WA where I have my shop. In July this year I had an opportunity to go to the democratic republic of Congo. We flew into a remote village on the Haute Plateau above lake Tanganyika by united Nations helicopter where we spent 2 weeks installing wind turbines and a small electrical system for and orphanage and school. It was like going back to the middle ages in many ways. The women still hoe their fields by hand, the men herd cows. They live in round mud huts or brick houses with Metal roofs. They are the most amazing and enjoyable people. The population of the area (Minembwe) are primarily the Banyemalengi tribe (tutsi) who were heavily persecuted during the great african war in the last two decades. In my time there I got to work with some carpenters, highly skilled, mostly self taught men who build everything with hand tools, machetes, glass shards instead of sandpaper and hand cut, pit sawn lumber from the forest which is about 10 miles away. There were many men who came to visit while we were there asking to be taught the trade, but with inadequate facilities this was not possible. Gila Garaway, the Lady that we were assisting and who has been establishing this orphanage and school over the past 15 years has built a building that will house a woodworking school. I would like to assist her in this process and am looking for others who would like to get involved with the project, both financially as well as practically, I.e traveling to DRC, setting up and equipping the shop space and teaching skills. We have so much here in America, even what we throw away can radically change the lives of an entire community of people.

Would you consider partnering with me in this process, or at least finding out more and helping me to promote it to the greater woodworking community. It could turn out to be a very exciting project.

Thanks for reading this far. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Andrew Campbell.

[duckkisser]

sounds interesting andrew would love to help out in some way. perhaps you can contact bunch of wood working companies, magazines, supply companies etc....do some kind of article or documentary to get the knowledge out there and perhaps get some kind of sponsorship. myself i would love to learn from the self taught wood workers maybe a video on their skills and what they make and how they taught them selves and maybe teach others. if you somehow made a documentary on the local wood workers i would buy a copy.