Good luck on the school! The money you have raised should pay for the school with enough left over for tables and chairs for the students.
Remember, it's only a concrete structure with no windows. Glass is expensive and unnecessary in the regions. You major expense will only be cement. Labor is $2 (1,000cfa) a day MAX for the guys actually putting the blocks together to make the bricks and I know someone that can rent you a cement mixer and generator to make the job go faster. They usually make the bricks by hand. You can request that they make the bricks ahead of time and have them drying before you get there, again, to save you time. Then all you have to do is stack them, add cement, stack, add cement, stack, add cement. It's not a difficult process as they do one complete large square first and then mark off the rooms afterwards.
It's commendable what you are doing and I have often said that the $40,000,000 Oprah spent on one school in South Africa could have made 4,000 REALLY nice schools or 40,000 schools that are good.
Teacher quality and passing the BFEM and BAC (International Baccalaureate)exams are the priority in all the schools here. It's not what they look like on the outside, it's what goes on inside.
If you have any other questions about the actual building of the school, how much things cost and where the money should be going, just let me know. In fact, if you'd like to have an independent contractor that can translate and keep track of what's going on, I can provide that, to be sure the money goes where it is supposed to go. This is the guy that has the construction equipment - he's a good and honest (english speaking)young man and rents everything that's needed to build a structure here at reasonable prices. He will also go to the site free of charge and oversee the use of the equipment. His telephone number, if you'd like to call him and discuss it, his name is Mohammed and his number is (221) 772412153. He went to school in Georgia in the US so he knows both sides of the fence!
We're partnering with a U.S. non-profit called buildOn and they have all the logistics worked out on the ground (so to speak) in Senegal. The building of this school has already begun (in terms of the conception and planning) and when we arrive, we and the village people will begin the foundation and take it as far as we can. Part of the mission of buildOn is to provide ongoing support and make their schools sustainable, long term, so the costs involved (at least, the ones you are seeing) go for much more than just construction costs of the building. buildOn has a very good reputation and we feel confident that the money we've raised will be used for the kinds of things they're doing in Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Guatemala, and Senegal. As a teacher, I understand fully what you're saying about the standard of education and what is required of kids. Of course, that's a whole different story and beyond the scope of buildOn. Thanks, Sineta, and see you in a couple of weeks!
Good luck on the school! The money you have raised should pay for the school with enough left over for tables and chairs for the students.
ReplyDeleteRemember, it's only a concrete structure with no windows. Glass is expensive and unnecessary in the regions. You major expense will only be cement. Labor is $2 (1,000cfa) a day MAX for the guys actually putting the blocks together to make the bricks and I know someone that can rent you a cement mixer and generator to make the job go faster. They usually make the bricks by hand. You can request that they make the bricks ahead of time and have them drying before you get there, again, to save you time. Then all you have to do is stack them, add cement, stack, add cement, stack, add cement. It's not a difficult process as they do one complete large square first and then mark off the rooms afterwards.
It's commendable what you are doing and I have often said that the $40,000,000 Oprah spent on one school in South Africa could have made 4,000 REALLY nice schools or 40,000 schools that are good.
Teacher quality and passing the BFEM and BAC (International Baccalaureate)exams are the priority in all the schools here. It's not what they look like on the outside, it's what goes on inside.
If you have any other questions about the actual building of the school, how much things cost and where the money should be going, just let me know. In fact, if you'd like to have an independent contractor that can translate and keep track of what's going on, I can provide that, to be sure the money goes where it is supposed to go. This is the guy that has the construction equipment - he's a good and honest (english speaking)young man and rents everything that's needed to build a structure here at reasonable prices. He will also go to the site free of charge and oversee the use of the equipment. His telephone number, if you'd like to call him and discuss it, his name is Mohammed and his number is (221) 772412153. He went to school in Georgia in the US so he knows both sides of the fence!
We're partnering with a U.S. non-profit called buildOn and they have all the logistics worked out on the ground (so to speak) in Senegal. The building of this school has already begun (in terms of the conception and planning) and when we arrive, we and the village people will begin the foundation and take it as far as we can. Part of the mission of buildOn is to provide ongoing support and make their schools sustainable, long term, so the costs involved (at least, the ones you are seeing) go for much more than just construction costs of the building. buildOn has a very good reputation and we feel confident that the money we've raised will be used for the kinds of things they're doing in Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Guatemala, and Senegal. As a teacher, I understand fully what you're saying about the standard of education and what is required of kids. Of course, that's a whole different story and beyond the scope of buildOn. Thanks, Sineta, and see you in a couple of weeks!
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