Moringa Community: Our Work

Woodworking Project

The Problem: Lacking Essential Woodworking Tools

Jeffry explains Moringa's Woodworking Project

By the time the average Ghanaian woodworker reaches 40 years of age, his hard labor has taken such a terrible toll on his body that he is no longer physically able to perform his duties. At first glance, the simplicity of Ghanaian woodworkers’ hand work may seem charming in comparison with American industrial methods, but the harsh reality for carpenters and woodworkers in West Africa is the tedium of dawn to dusk hours of hard work for sub-poverty wages. Tools are so limited in supply that it is nearly impossible for Ghana to value add anything to its lumber resources, which for the most part remain unprocessed. Additionally, the few wealthy people in West Africa tend to purchase their furniture from foreign sources, since Ghana’s remarkably skilled, hardworking tradesman lack the tooling and technology they need to produce finer goods. It is not lack of ability or work ethic that impoverishes Ghana's tradesmen, but rather lack of basic, essential tools that every first world carpenter, woodworker, and furniture maker has. Such essential tools include the woodworking table saw, jointer, and thickness planer. These tools are as essential to the woodworker as the potter's wheel is essential to the potter, or the loom or sewing machine is essential to the seamstress.

The Obstacle: Only Basic Hand Power Tools Are Practical in Ghana

These simple tools, which are available in Ghana, are all that is required to make Mr. Jeffry's Machine Shop.

These simple tools, which are available in Ghana, are all that is required to make Mr. Jeffry's Machine Shop. We first thought that we could raise money to ship western style stationary woodworking equipment to Ghana to jump start some local businesses and improve local economies with the creation of jobs. It was a nice thought, but ultimately, it’s an impractical and impossible answer, for several reasons. First, public electricity is not available to everyone in Ghana. Most African woodworking shops that can only afford small generators that cannot support a 15 or 20 amp stationary table saw. Even when public electricity is available, the reality is that only basic hand power tools are practical and affordable for most African carpenters.

The Practical Solution: Mr. Jeffry’s Third World Machine Shop

Abu demonstrates the grueling task of working by
hand, and then demonstrates the contrasting efficiency of Mr. Jeffry's Machine Shop.

Abu demonstrates the grueling task of working by hand, and then demonstrates the contrasting efficiency of Mr. Jeffry's Machine Shop. Abu celebrates completing this door in only 90 minutes, when the same door would take two men three weeks to complete using standard methods in Ghana.

Mr. Jeffry's Third World Machine Shop innovatively uses only two common and relatively inexpensive hand held power tools as efficient highly accurate, contemporary production equipment. All that is needed to create each third world machine unit is one existing machine unit, one hand held router, one hand held circular saw, two router bits, on circular saw blade, 1/3 sheet of 3/4" particle board, and 10 board feet of African hardwood. One machine unit can thus beget dozens of replicas of itself and those dozens in turn used to create even more units. The unit in the video at right was created exclusively from another unit that preceded it. It is made up of only one router and one hand held circular saw. Even the rough lumber was trued start to finish with these two basic tools and no others.

Mr. Jeffry’s Third World Machine Shop costs an affordable $500, while a typical American machine shop with similar capabilities costs $5,000. Additionally, the Machine Shop is easy to assemble and use.

This machine is currently being used to construct the roof of the Moringa Community Training Center in Baako.

Abu celebrates completing this door in only 90 minutes, when the same door would take two men three weeks to complete using standard methods in Ghana.

With this shop, Ghanaian carpenters can save themselves an immense amount of labor so that can earn a decent living— for example, while it might take two men three weeks of hard labor to complete a door, one man can do the same amount of labor in 90 minutes using this machine.

Moringa Community is currently in the process of constructing the Moringa Community Center, in the village of Baako, where community members will learn how use this machinery to make a good leaving and improve their lives. Moringa is especially committed to training children on the streets a productive trade so that they can be contributing members of society.

Moringa Community's mission is not to make Ghana an industrialized nation. Our goal is not to remove the tradition of human power in Ghana, but rather enable Ghanaians to develop sustainable local economies and give hope for a bright and stable future.

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