It's been over half a year since I posted a new blog entry, and quite a bit has happened in that time. Far too much to cover in one short blog entry! However, there is one exciting development that I'd like to focus on: the long-awaited completion of the school reconstruction project we launched last year.
In my May 2nd, 2015 entry I wrote that "if all goes well we'll be finished with construction by the end of this month." Since it's now January 8th, 2016, you can probably guess that all did not, in fact, go well. Delays, insufficient materials, cost overruns, disagreements, and various other issues all conspired to slow construction to a crawl. Luckily my fantastic counterpart Josoah and other community leaders took it upon themselves to resolve the problems and get the project back on track, albeit several months behind schedule. I'm now happy to announce that reconstruction of Ambondro Elementary School's (EPP Ambondro) schoolhouse has finally been completed.
Here are some images of the schoolhouse before rehabilitation:
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| Destroyed roof, damaged roof supports, broken windows, no doors. |
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| Broken windows in one of the classrooms. |
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| The interior of one of the classrooms. |
And here are some images of it now, post-rehabilitation:
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| Completed front of the building. The doors and paint were contributed by the Regional Education Director and the community. |
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| Improved roof supports to withstand future cyclones. |
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| New windows donated by the Regional Education Director. |
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| Peace Corps counterpart Josoah standing next to the completed schoolhouse. |
This newly rehabilitated schoolhouse will service around 150 elementary school students from all around the rural commune of Ambondro. In a place where everyone values education as their greatest hope for a better future, this new building should be a great asset to the community.
I can't express my gratitude enough to everyone who contributed to this project. Thanks to your support children in Ambondro will have a wonderful place to learn for years to come.
Once school starts up again I will post some more pictures of students using the new classrooms!
