Letter from Tabora.

BELINDA VAN BUITEN

ANTONI S. FOLKERS

Working in Africa challenges conventional Western views of architecture, as this Dutch partnership discovered through their recent experiences in Tanzania.

Lost in the midst of the endless East African savannah, the Tanzanian town of Tabora is a hot and dusty outpost. But in the late nineteenth century it was an important city, a thriving caravanserai and meeting place for the Arab slave and ivory traders, hungry white explorers and missionaries, the Wasukuma and the Wanyamwezi with their king Fundi Kira. Little is left of all this -- luckily perhaps -- and what became of the slavers, the chiefs and the explorers is known. But what became of the missionaries and what of Tabora?

Missionaries and whites in general are currently being kicked out of Africa. Mixed feelings about this aside, they offered help to a forgotten population: the millions living in the savannah, millions of people not yet discovered by the politicians in the capitals. What will the consequences be of the missionaries' disappearance? Who will take over their role as hard working and dedicated professionals, assisting the population in building up economic services? And in the architectural pr ofession, who will design and coordinate buildings of quality? African architects and engineers are not yet responding to this challenge; they are too busy discovering the sweetnesses of liberty, money and power, and still euphoric to have escaped from the savannah.

Stripped to its essence, quality is good durable shelter against the often oppressive climate, built for little means and yet expected to last for generations as there will be no resources for care and maintenance. Understanding and realizing these basic objectives still makes practising architecture in Africa very appealing. There is no need to belong to the avant-garde, no necessity for buildings to make statements or dictate fashion, Just the imperative to build shelters that will be durable, convenient and beautiful, nothing else.

Since arriving in the mid-1980s, working in Africa has been a great adventure, we have experienced its expanse, vitality and mystery - qualities almost lost in Europe and the West. We initially came as idealists seeking adventure, and as students started helping to upgrade squatter settlements and to build with mud in Ouagadougou in 1984. Later we established two offices there, and although still firmly based in the Netherlands, we are involved in projects in Africa, Despite the harsh circumstances and difficulties of working in such an environment, we cherish our experience and it has become an indissoluble part of us. The lack of money, lack of knowledge, harsh climate and other exotic factors have in turn thwarted and inspired our work, and changed our view about what is important and what is futile in our profession. Simplicity -- the 'natural' handling of materials and technology, modest but outstanding -- seems the key to good building. We have christened this 'discretio'.

It is true that Westerners can be blamed for enforcing 'our' architecture and destroying the local 'primitive' building culture. So how can we re-establish traditional architecture? After we taught the Africans to build with cement blocks and corrugated iron, we tried to reintroduce reed and adobe -- presented as a Western invention under the veil of appropriate technology -- but to no avail. Sadly, traditional vernacular is either dying or dead -- with the ironic exception of the five star coral stone and thatch beach-hotels.

Yet working in both rich and poor worlds has been an intriguing exercise. The difference between the two is after all not that enormous -- to make the most out of nothing or to make the least out of plenty. Realizing a hospital in the middle of nowhere, for next to nothing, or redefining the aspirations of the incredibly rich to build an architecturally modest villa on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Inevitably, Africa's relationship with and dependency on the rest of the world will he shaped by politics. Contemporary Dutch government policy is a typical example of short to mid-term development strategies. Mrs E. Herfkens, Minister of Development Cooperation, recently released new guidelines on technical assistance. In these guidelines there is little room left for presence of Western experts (engineers, doctors, management consultants, architects, agriculturists and teacher). Requests for assistance will have to be redefined and will have to be solely African-based and. institutionalized. Moreover, work should be carried out using local capacity and resources. Foreign technical assistance is thus geared towards improvement of capacity and build-up of institutions. [1] This isn't new in theory, but the new interpretation of the guidelines is certainly different. There is a clear intention to shift from a patronizing viewpoint -- in which the request is often donor-invented and the execution donor-steered -- towards a situation in which initiative and execution are completely within the recipient's responsibility. Technical assistance will thus become a means of transferring knowledge, not one-way directed, but reciprocal.

Through this shift in approach it is anticipated that the pace of development might be slowed. African nations are so used to being passive recipients, of plying themselves to suit trends in development aid, so it may come as a surprise when they are told to really stand up for their case. It might take some time, and in the transition period, it may be wise to not terminate projects that are essential for subsistence. Yet ultimately we cannot but agree with the guidelines and hope to be able to continue to play a role in the development of this crucial transfer of knowledge and skills.

And what does the African future have in store for architecture? We don't know whether ways have to be sought to rediscover pride in local culture or a synthesis of the now deeply buried traditional culture with the recently acquired Western knowledge. Perhaps something completely new will emerge, and it is a huge challenge to try to understand and anticipate what will happen. For the moment, Africa seems a desperate lost continent, exploited by its medieval ruling clans and the rest of the world. But the vital seed of rejuvenation, though perhaps deeply buried, will eventually surface. When, we don't yet know, but it will not be that far off. Africa is the continent of the future. Ex Africa semper aliquied novi. [2]

(1.) 'Institutions' an the sense of society frameworks that provide structure to human behaviors; as rules of the game, in the form of laws, rules and habits. A rather Western approach to structuring human society.

(2.) 'From Africa (comes) always something new' Pliny.