School Project Begins

Thanks to the many generous people and organizations that donated to my classroom rehabilitation project, we were able to get full funding well before we'd anticipated!

During the month of March the community was busy getting all of their contributions to the project ready – sand, wood, water, etc. They also tore down the remnants of the old roof and got the site ready for construction.

I spent last weekend in Ambovombe (the regional capital) running around with my counterpart Josoah trying to organize the purchase and transport of all of the construction materials. It was no small order: 156 sheets of metal roofing, 57 iron bars, 44 wooden planks, and 92 sacks of cement, 6 metal sheets, and 20 kilos of nails. The purchase of all the materials went smoothly, but the transportation proved to be a much more complicated issue.

The transport of the materials was being provided for free – the Chef CISCO (the head of the school district) just needed to provide the gasoline for the truck. There were some issues at first with the cost of gas and finding a driver, but with the help of the CISCO we were able to work it out. After two days of delays, we were back at the hardware store loading up all of the materials. Me, Josoah, and the Chef CISCO were all very excited to see the project that we'd been preparing for so long coming to fruition! It was already night by the time we made it to Ambondro, but a bunch of local guys were waiting to help us unload everything.

Now we're almost ready to begin construction. The last few items – some local wood and gravel – are still being collected. Hopefully by next week we'll be able to start!

Materials loaded up and ready to go