Gbamu: A mud-made storage structure constructed to store and preserve
harvested food from previous seasons.
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| Bishop of Port Sudan, posing next to the Gbmau |
With the rainy
season coming to a close the time for harvesting crops from one's
garden was upon the people of Nzara. Youth volunteers from the
Cathedral all gathered on the morning of November 16th in
anticipation of harvesting rice from Bishop Peni's garden.
Upon their return,
they brought with them twelve 150 pound bags of harvested rice, and
placed them in the kitchen hut, adjacent to the house.
With half the space
of the kitchen hut full with bags of rice, cooking and preparing
dinner became a more difficult task for the young lady's staying in
the Bishops compound.
With this situation
Bishop Samuel Peni had an interesting decision to pounder- whether or
not to build a Gbamu.
Bishop Peni decided
to have his very own Gbamu, thus the construction began.
The setting-up of
the Gbamu was a fascinating scene to watch. The Gbamu is held up by
four 6 foot wooden poles to prevent animals and rodents from gaining
access to the structure. The assembling of the Gbamu requires 2-3
men gathering mud, mixing it with dried grass in order to form mud
bricks, while 3-4 men stand on the actual structure manipulating the
mud to correspond with the shape needed in order to continually build
the wall up.
Though watching the
construction of the Gbamu was interesting, I'd have to say
participating in the putting-up of the structure was what I found the
most enjoyable.
