Arkitrek Camp – Blog series by Richard Nelson Sokial (Part 5 of 5)
Original post can be found at the Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Just a typical morning on Mantanani island…

We had two days left to finish the MCP Learning Centre (the official name for Albi’s Chicken House).

It was crunch time – we knew it and everyone had their pokerface on as we silently ate our breakfast.

The Arkitrekkers had put up the roof the night before. Today, we had to finish the bottle wall, slanting bamboo wall elevation, floors and the massive driftwood wall on the east elevation.

Sarah’s illustrations of the interlocking driftwood wall. The boys joked that the drawings looked like trees in compromising positions.

“Kamasutra for trees”. LOL.

The two gappers had to leave the island early. Farewell, Jack and David B – thank you so much!

…but Ian came back and we were joined by Anna and Fraser, friends of David A. from UK.

Being put in charge of completing the bottle walls, I was feeling a bit under pressure. Albi – our key construction guy and expert with the chainsaw, had taken ill and was not able to cut the timber pieces that I needed for the original bottle wall design.

Pieces of leftover plywood from the camp’s previous projects were to be used instead of sawn planks.

This meant that the original wall design had to be simplified.

Meanwhile, Fraser, Anna, Pui Cheng and Michelle were cutting bamboo and figuring out how to put the slanted wall frames together.

The boys – Zee, David and Daniele were working hard on completing the building’s raised timber decks, while Pui Cheng and Ian were deciding how to put the driftwood wall together. Will was busy hammering pieces of driftwood onto the posts to complete the elevation facing the sea while Tina was working with Albi to drill the metal brackets holding the slanted walls.

Zee, David A and Will helping Ian and Hasheem lift a driftwood log into place.

Come noon and the Arkitrekkers were 80% finished with the building. The kids from Albi’s village had come out and watched with curious fascination as the Arkitrekkers raced against the clock to get the building done.

I saw an opportunity to utilize their little hands and roped in the kids to help complete the bottle walls. Giving clear instructions to them, the Mantanani children – led by Idham, Fadli and little Epot formed a mini crew of bottle outsourcers, bottle washers and bottle stuffers – as we systematically filled up the walls with plastic bottles that had been found on the beach and collected by the volunteers at Camp Mantanani.

The island kids were extremely enthusiastic about being part of this project – and I believe that it gave them a better sense of awareness, ownership and pride over this building – that would be handed over to them once the Arkitrekkers were gone.

The artistic effect of the bottle wall is a way of conveying new ideas of how the Mantanani people could make something pretty out of stuff they would have normally thrown away.

(Click to enlarge photo)

Aesthetically pleasing…but at the same time scary – just imagine how many discarded plastic bottles are thrown into the world’s oceans each day? Something to think about.

Everyone loved the hammock that Michelle designed and made. Bravo!

Meanwhile, the driftwood wall was finally finished and as the final reinforcing steel nut was screwed in, the kids had already started to climb onto the wall like a jungle gym.

Later, the bamboo walls that Fraser and the girls made were installed. The walls worked worked perfectly and were very comfortable to rest against.

We finished the timber deck floor just as Camp Mantanani’s staff showed up with cakes and tea.

Food!

Hooray, we finished the building!

Albi’s Chicken House was now officially completed! Well done Arkitrekkers!

That evening, the whole group celebrated their first night in Albi’s Chicken House with rice, barbecued chicken and lamb. Aida was the main chef. We made a huge bonfire from the pieces of rotten driftwood that we had cleared from the site.

Later, Aida took out a laptop and we looked at the photos showing the development process of the building that we had just built.

The finished building was kinda awesome actually.

After dinner, some of us decided to sleep in Albi’s Chicken House instead of our regular hammocks at camp. It rained heavily that night, the heaviest that we had ever experienced in our two weeks on the island. I guess it’s the universe’s way of testing our building. LOL.

Note: It was nice to find out later from Ian that Albi had commented that he had found a genuine appreciation for the Arkitrekkers and said he even learnt a few things from us as well. Hasheem had already booked his spot to nap in Albi’s Chicken House, and Mel was elated that Camp Borneo now had a proper place to conduct activities on Mantanani.

The building would be the first phase of Camp Borneo’s collaboration with Arkitrek, the next being an extension to the building with a shop for selling local island products such as driftwood sculptures, etc. I can already foresee Albi’s Chicken House as a meeting point for not only Camp Borneo’s volunteers but also for a ‘bridge’ for the two village communities living on the island.

Saying goodbye to Albi’s Chicken House…

Leaving Mantanani the next morning, we took our final photos as remembrance of the Arkitrek Camp experience. While several of us will have the chance to come back and see how the building has matured over time, some of the participants may never be able to visit this building again.

I am posting up my notes as a shout out to those awesome individuals of the first Arkitrek Camp, to remind them from time to time of what we achieved as a team – and that when enough like-minded people get together, we can make a difference in the world we live in.

It was a pleasure and honour to have been part of the first Arkitrek Camp and my salutes to everyone who was involved in it; Arkitrek Founder Ian Hall, Melanie Chu, Sarah Greenlees, Daniele Cohen, Pui Cheng (who never got called by her first name Vivian), Zee, David Arnott, Will Smith, Tina Celestial, Kitler the cat, Michelle Martin, David Beattie, Jack Allcock, Anna and Fraser, Yanti Saman, Albi and family, Hasheem, members of the Malaysian Police force on Mantanani (who helped us pull most of the heaviest driftwood) and last but not least the awesome Aida Rahman and her ukelele.

Three cheers for Arkitrek Camp

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