School Construction
School Construction
Until the start of our school project in early 2011, the village of Mushapo did not have their own school. To spare the children their daily long walk to neighboring villages and in order that more children can get a good education, ADH made the realization of a school project in Mushapo its goal. The school project is meant to last: Several school buildings with bright spacious classrooms of solid, durable materials should guarantee a permanent school operation no matter what the weather conditions. In addition, important new jobs will be created in the rural area by building schools and the operation thereof.
Jan
2013
Plans for the reconstruction of a temporary building into a brick building
SADR allows us to permanently use all farmhouses as school buildings. We’re thinking about stabilizing one of the mud and wood buildings currently being used, with brick walls and transform it into a permanent school building. This is supported by major considerations: First, the construction of a temporary building is, compared with the construction of a new building, considerably cheaper and much faster. Although the temporary buildings are currently still in good condition, they can soon look very different, depending on how severe the storms are in the rainy season. The support beams are slowly eaten away by termites so that they are wasting anyway. In addition, we may continue to use this building in the future as a branch of the school north of Mushapo and thus keep the distance for children from the neighboring village Shamubenze to two kilometers back and forth on a daily basis. We would further finish the building south of Mushapo and build more school buildings there.
Nov
2012
Tables and chairs are made
Tables and chairs are built for the teachers and simple seats for the students. Robert, a talented craftsman and carpenter from Mushapo, is a great help in the production of furniture for the school. He also knows very much about construction of buildings and was a great help in rebuilding the farm buildings.
Oct
2012
Starting the school year in temporary buildings
The simple farm buildings of wood and mud are temporarily being used for school operations. For this purpose, two large farm houses, each with a length of 20 meters and a width of 4 meters are re-built into four classrooms. To start teaching quickly, the classrooms are provisionally equipped with simple blackboards and makeshift school desks.
Oct
2012
A generator and two "Pousse Pousse"
With SADR is also the power supply gone. A friend in Kinshasa donates a good, new generator with which we have at least some power for a few hours in the evening for light and charging of batteries and telephone. He also donated two "pousse pousse", typical Congolese carts with two wheels. Since the vehicles of SADR are no longer available we now use these carts to bring the bricks and other materials to the construction site. Internet access; we hope to get it soon via the only phone company that operates here, even though their network coverage in the area is very bad.
Sep
2012
SADR leaves us building that we can use as temporary classrooms
We need to make other arrangements now that with SADR gone an important pillar of our project has fallen away. Due to the closure of the farm the construction of our school building is delayed because we need to first organize many things. We ask the owner of the farm if we can use the now empty farm buildings in Mushapo for class rooms during the construction. SADR agrees. We will convert and use some of the large farm houses into temporary classrooms, until our own school building is completed. This enables us to start school already beginning next month once we have fabricated makeshift school desks and tables.
Aug
2012
SADR closes - we take their old building
Back in the Congo we hear the news that the SADR farm in Mushapo closed because of many difficulties. As a result the construction of our school building fell behind during our stay in Europe and progress during this time was only moderate. The construction is delayed further because we have to worry about more fundamental things at the moment. So far we were partly provided for by the farm and could use their facilities. Now we need to fully re-organize ourselves and urgently find a way to get electricity, water, bedding, food supplies and other essentials for the ADH team. Jean, the former head of the farm in Mushapo, is willing to work for half his salary for us because he knows that we are working full-time as volunteers and have to get our own support.
Jun
2012
Fundraising Tour in Europe
To raise support for our school project, we travel through Germany and the Czech Republic. The first building is already funded and is still under construction. To help us seamlessly start with the construction of the second school building, we aim to quickly find the necessary support for it. In order to expand our circle of supporters, we asked Jens and Sergio (two students from Germany) to make a preliminary website about our work in the Congo. A television interview with Munich TV helps to promote our school project in the Congo.
Apr
2012
The foundation is finished
The foundation has been laid. The trenches were neatly filled with bricks stacked on top of each other and sealed with cement to form a solid wall. Iron bars were placed where the supporting pillars will come. The foundation reaches about 30 cm from the floor. At different places recesses are left where later the doors will come.
