Our Work
Mission & Philosophy
Moringa Community School of Trades
Student Dormitory Project
Importing
Canning Supplies to Africa
Our Educational
Programs
Canning & Food Preservation Project
Third World Woodworking Project
Moringa Oliefera
Grass Cutter Farming
Moringa Kente & Fabric Arts
Moringa's Artesian
Water System
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 basic hand held power tools are all that is required to make one of Mr. Jeffry's Machine Shops. Moringa is blessed to have DeWalt Industrial sponsor at least 10 Mr.Jeffry's Third World Machine Shops to Date. DeWalt has also supplied us with many other fine machines to equip our Moringa School of Trades Woodworking Shop. |
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. |
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 that is reinstalled in our special Mr.J's Third World Machine Shop. The machine works amazingly well and produces fine and reliable accurate stock pieces and joinery configurations. It should be noted that even the rough (initially chainsaw cut lumber) is milled and trued into the components to beget more of Mr.Jeffry's Third World Machine Shop from just the use a 7 1/4" Circular Saw and a 3HP Router.
 Our Moringa Truck full loaded with five pallets of donated machine tools from DeWalt Industrial |
Moringa Community has been most fortunate to have had DeWalt Industrial, a division of parent company Stanley Black & Decker step forward in early 2010 to act as our sponsor for our Third World Machine Shop Woodworking Project. Not only did DeWalt donate (10) ten new 3HP routers and (10) ten new 7 1/4" circular saws, DeWalt-Dubai shipped us (5) five crates of lightly used and reconditioned additional tooling ranging from radial arms saws and miter saws to a job site jointer planer machine among other very useful tools.
Mr. Jeffry’s Third World Machine Shop (MJTMS) costs an affordable $600, while a typical American machine shop with similar capabilities costs $5,000. Additionally, the Machine Shop is easy to assemble and use. It does however take one complete MJTMS to fabricate a clone of itself as all components must be very precise in their fit and joinery.
The MJTMS machines are currently in full use at our Moringa Community Training Center in Baako. We are using it very effectively to produce many things including, Furniture, Weaving Looms, Beehives, Doors, Frames, boxes, and wooden implements used in other trades such as food preparation and farming.
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| 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. |
Moringa Community is proud to have not only completed the construction of the Moringa Community Center, in the village of Baako, but we are adding on many additional buildings, aided by our Moringa Woodshop that include a Fabric Arts Center, a Computer and Business Education Lab, and Live Stock farming structures. Our students learn how to use this machinery to make a good living and improve their lives. Moringa is also 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 necessarily 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 through appropriate technology that we can make available to the rural population.
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Quality of life increases dramatically
when people have the resources to earn a quality living for
themselves and their families.
