“What can I do?”: Roderick Obeja on timber, engineering, and building a better future

In 2022, structural engineer Roderick Obeja made a quiet decision that would profoundly reshape his career. 

At the time, he was already deeply involved in East Africa’s construction sector. He was running a small engineering practice in Nairobi — Lotino Engineering — while also working with Localworks in Kampala as a construction manager. But it was a two-week residential programme in Nairobi, hosted by the Climate Smart Forest Economy Program (CSFEP), that opened up a new career path.

A turning point

The programme didn’t just offer technical insight, says Obeja. It shifted his worldview. He began to see timber as not just a building material–but as a pathway to a more regenerative and local construction industry.  

“When I left that programme, I made a resolution,” he says. “I remember it very vividly. I decided I would only take on timber projects—or projects that clearly contribute to a more sustainable world.”

Obeja knew that commitment alone wouldn’t be enough. He also wanted deeper technical expertise. After an extensive search, he found a timber construction masters programme at the Technical University of Madrid in Spain, one of the few that allowed remote learning.

“Every day of that programme was a joy,” he says. “Because we were talking about a material that is the hope of the future, the hope of the world.” 

By March 2025, he had relocated his young family to Spain and joined AECOM Spain — a global engineering firm — as a structural engineer. Now, he balances his work on large-scale infrastructure projects with a personal mission: to bring timber to projects in Europe while maintaining an active connection to timber uptake and knowledge back in East Africa.

Bridging two worlds

Today, Obeja lives in Spain, immersed in high-tech tools and cutting-edge design. But some of his focus and heart remains on East Africa.

“I don’t see my time in Europe as a detour,” he explains. “It’s preparation. I’m building relationships, learning from the best, getting ready to return with the skills and networks I’ll need to make timber mainstream. And then some years from now, I will be back in East Africa with my wonderful family to cheerfully contribute to a better and more sustainable planet.” 

For Obeja, closing the gap between global knowledge and local practice is essential. He explains that the second generation Eurodes are on the horizon and on track to become the legal code, at least in Europe, by March 2028.  But many universities in East Africa  still train engineers on older standards – sometimes even obsolete structural codes and standards.

“Many times the codes we use in East Africa are no longer supported in the professional world,” he says. “Not by current software, design tools or manufacturing requirements,” he says. “So there’s a huge gap between how the world is advancing–and the training available at home.” 

At the same time, he believes Europe could learn a lot from East Africa’s optimism, joy, youth, energy, and sense of community.

“I have lived in Europe since March 2025, but I still don’t feel at home, maybe I will some day” he admits. “In Africa, we still hold on to a larger sense of community. And Africa has so much energy from its young people. Everywhere, there are young people on the move, trying things, building things. In Uganda, over 50% of its population is below the age of 17.”

Timber: Opportunities and challenges

Obeja has temporarily paused his firm, Lotino Engineering, to focus on working, learning and collaboration in Spain. However, he remains committed to its original purpose: designing spaces that serve the human person — families, communities, and the planet.

He sees timber as the first point of approach, central to making housing more affordable, adaptable, and dignified–especially for those left out of the market. 

“We need housing that’s appropriate for families,” he says. “Many slum development projects build two-bedroom houses. But when people gain some means, their parents often come to live with them. So quickly a two-bedroom house doesn’t work. We need housing that reflects how families actually live. And I believe local timber can help us get there.” 

Currently, he sees manufacturing as one of the biggest barriers to increased use of timber in East Africa. Most timber products are still imported, he explains, making them expensive and inaccessible.

“We cannot build a timber economy if we’re importing everything,” he says. “We need to grade our own timber. Manufacture our own components. That’s what will bring down costs and increase access.” 

Education is another key piece, he says. 

 “Architects may want timber. Clients may want timber. But as long as engineers cannot design with timber, we cannot build with it.”

Someday, he hopes to be part of a formation pool to help young engineers learn about timber. “It’s the same in Spain as in Uganda,” he says. “Most engineering education doesn’t treat timber as a viable structural material. But if we want timber to scale, we need to teach our professionals how to use it. Because if architects and engineers don’t propose it, clients won’t think about it.”

For Obeja, timber is more than a material. It’s part of a larger philosophy of care for our planet, lifelong learning, and commitment to community. 

He explains that one of his heroes is Kenya's Nobel Peace prize laureate — Wangari Maathai. She tells a story about the hummingbird that tries to put out fire in a burning forest. All the big animals– such as the elephant – just look on transfixed and helpless, and wonder why the little hummingbird is trying to do something about the fire, trying to put it out by drops of water up and down with its little beak as fast as it can — and not realising that it is wasting its time. They tell the poor hummingbird “What do you think you can do, you are too little, this fire is too big, your wings are too little and your beak is so small”

The little bird simply turns for a second without wasting any time and says “I am doing the best I can.” 

“For me,” says Obeja, “it's a very similar story. [Timber advocates] are all hummingbirds. Timber is probably the most important material we need in construction. And with it — and together — we could help care for our common home — the earth.”

“It’s not just about timber,” he explains. “It’s about a different way of looking at the world that needs us.”