Harvesting wood materials used in building earth-wall structures

Elder Kofi Gyato and a group of Nafana youth harvest tree trunks and branches that will be used as posts and roof poles in building two earth-wall houses on the grounds of the Banda Cultural Centre. They harvest thick trees for use as corner posts and roof joist and thinner tree trunks and branches for use as wall posts, roof and ceiling poles. Community researcher Enoch Mensah interviews elder Kofi Gyato in Nafaanra about the tree types required. The men use cutlasses to fell trees and a young man sharpens his tool on a stone behind a Motorking tricycle. Harvested wood is stacked for transport in the bed of the Motorking vehicle. Later, the men cut saplings from which they peel the bark to obtain its inner layer, which will be used to bind and tie posts and poles of a wattle frame structure and in roofing a coursed earth atakpame building. Banda District, Ghana.