At long last - it's officially a building site!

At long last the school site is now a building site!

The project board has been erected at the tarmac and site preparation is underway with the laying out and digging of foundations.

The soil being dug out is used to make the soil stabilised bricks (SSB’s); an environmentally friendly method of producing bricks as they are not burnt meaning no trees are cut down to fire the brick ovens.

Making the SSB’s: the soil is mixed with cement and put into a press and the brick is formed. Bricks are then laid out in the sun to dry and then stock piled under cover to prevent them getting wet.

The foundation for the first classroom block has now been completed and work is underway on the second block. The next stage is for the concrete slab to be laid and after that construction of the walls will begin.

While this is going on the pit latrines are being dug out. This is done by hand – no machines here – and digging is to a depth of 4 metres. These will be lined with concrete blocks before the upper walls are constructed.

With the start of the rainy season it is now a race against time to have the walls up and the roof on the buildings under construction so that work can be done inside to finish the buildings. The completion date for this first phase is 25th January 2010 but I’m not optimistic and expect some delays. A two bed roomed staff house is also being constructed but only the foundations have been dug out for that as of now.

With the exception of the foreman and technical staff all the workers on the site are local people, men and women who are benefitting financally.  There's a great atmosphere on the site and everyone is working very hard.  They have a visitors book and anyone calling at the site must now sign the book with their details and the reason for the visit.  We try to visit once per week to check on progress and we're always welcomed.