THE LIFE OF AN INTERN ENGINEER

site meeting

It’s been quite long since I last post a new blog as things have been pretty tight. A few weeks ago, I was accepted as an intern in a housing corporation. At first it was quite difficult adapting from being a college student to an intern engineer in a government parastatal. Unlike college where I would choose which classes to attend and even go an hour late here all workers are required to report at their workstations by 7:45am. This is by no means an easy task considering the massive traffic congestion that characterise major highways into the city in the morning. I’m still struggling not doze off in the afternoons after waking up at 5:30am every morning in order to catch my train to the capital. 

Another major headache is the strict dress code all workers are required to observe. For a guy who is used to clad in a t-shirt, shorts and moccasins it feels really weird being in a suit and tie. Since I didn’t own even a single suit I was forced to enlist the help of my old man in picking some. You wouldn’t believe how much I look forward to weekends when I can put on jeans!

My responsibilities entail drafting structural drawings, designing houses, attending active-project meetings and inspecting works progress. soon we might be marketing some of the corporate products in the newly formed counties. Please say hi if you happen to see me ‘hawking’ some expanded polystyrene panels (EPS) in your neighbourhood.

The first few days were quite boring, being new to the workplace and sitting on a desk to 5pm. However I must admit all the members in the planning section have been very friendly, accommodative and resourceful to the interns as they fondly treats us like their own children.

Unlike classrooms going into the field with prolific engineers is so much interesting. Like this morning I accompanied a team to a middle-scale housing estate in Langata. High boundary walls complete with electric fence on top welcome us into a quiet serene environment; lush hedges, well mowed lawns and well maintained access roads. The scene suddenly changes when we make a turn to the left to another access road. The whole street is flooded with dark and murky waters. The sight, odour emanating from the raw sewage is sickening and chocking! I try hard not to puke.

The residents mill around us curious to know what remedy we have brought to them. From their faces I could clearly see how mental anguish, physiological stress and health risk has taken a toil on them. In fact a number had moved and rented out in other places. They were very bitter having spent a fortune in buying the mansions only to be forced back to rental units. 

The team leader, a charismatic old man talked to the affected homeowners. He explained to them how an underground channel would be built to convey the waste water to treatment works away from their houses and deliver them from their current misery. The construction works was scheduled to start immediately. It was fascinating to watch as he successfully convinced a woman whose compound the channel was designed to pass through to allow cutting down of a number of trees on her compound which she had strong attachment to.

We then went upstream to investigate how the sewer discharge ended up flooding a residential area. After searching through a small plantation of bananas, sugar cane and vegetables for a while, we finally found the problem. One of the manholes had been filled with concrete obstructing the flow of waste water in the sewer lines. This caused its contents to spill all over the farm into the estate. The unscrupulous farmers use human waste enriched water to irrigate their crops. Most of these products end up in markets. So the vegetables you have just taken for dinner might have been harvested from this farm!

Accusations and counter accusations fly around as the farmers point fingers at Nairobi water company officials on ground for this act of sabotage; they in turn accuse the Chinese contractor constructing a road adjacent to the sewer line. A heated argument ensued as the officials from the different ministries air out their views on how to go about the situation. The debate is interjected with numerous engineering jargons that I hardly understood a bit of it! After showcasing their in depth knowledge on such situations all parties came to an agreement. The manholes would be unblocked and the sewer connected to a different line to enable the construction of the channel in the affected estate.

My day wasn’t all obnoxious, after every site visit a meeting is held in any cool joint around. So on this day we pick Tamasha restaurant in Nairobi West as our meeting location. The site is officially handed over to a young contractor. All members table their expectations and suggestions. After the meeting we all order the trademark lunch for any typical working Kenyan; Ugali, roasted goat ribs and favourite poison.

It feels really good to be part of the team that designed a solution to a problem afflicting some of my countrymen. And that is how I built my nation today!

By lammergeier