Updates

After three weeks, with the money raised from church sponsorship and donations from friends, we have been able to break the ground and are glad to share these images and video clips with our sponsors and well wishers. We continue to rely on your kind donations of any cash amount.

I

Caretaker’s & Store rooms; Concrete for Perimeter fence Construction:

The Gwakabbo UK team and GCDI Secretary on site:

  1. The foundation to caretaker’s and store rooms is being set.

  2. The perimeter fence being made on site to cut costs of transportation. In the video you see one of the men clearing the place on which he and his team will lay the concrete.
Play Video
Play Video
Play Video

II

Construction of a pit latrine on another corner of the area:

  1. At the far end of the school land, a pit latrine is being constructed for the caretaker and the construction workers when the school building project begins.

  2. The pit has been dug, concrete has been laid on the inside and the foundation and wall are now being made. The work is in progress.

III

Building materials:

The bricks being used for the construction are being made just outside the school perimeter by the local independent brick makers.

The GCDI Secretary showing the Gwakabbo team the process of brick making and explaining the benefits to Gwakabbo and the local community.

This has two positive effects:

  1. It is creating job opportunities for the local people

  2. It is reducing Gwakabbo’s costs of transporting bricks from a distant place.
I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

However, materials including cement, sand, aggregates and timber are not on site, but are available within the district, so will still be sourced within Dokolo District.

Gwakabbo UK team inspecting the sand, concrete and aggregates to see samples of the materials required.

IV

The beginning of the construction of the concrete fence. It is being made on site because it is cost effective. Secondly, concrete rather than metal is being used because it deters theft (metal is being sold to dealers and making metal fences would be an attraction to thieves).
  1. Cement and concrete being used to fill the metal grooves
  2. In the foreground samples of the concrete rods, drying awaiting installation around the perimeter.
  3. In the background, a water trough and the caretaker’s & store rooms block.

V

Water storage trough that contains approximately 5,000 litres of water (20 litres of water cost 500 shillings/10 pence UK equivalent has been constructed because the nearest source of water is over 3 kms away. There is urgent need to raise funds to sink a borehole on site to reduce the costs of water. Although it costs on about 3 pounds (at current exchange rates) to fill the trough, the amount of water required means we will use much more money on buying water rather than sinking a borehole on site. For example, on average they have required about 10,000 litres of water daily so that is about 6 pounds per day on water alone, on a small scale work. When the actual school building starts they will need much more water than that.

 

Play Video

VI

After two weeks, the progress made can be seen on the following images and video. We have a dedicated work supervisor, who arrives at work punctually before his team and is the last to leaves the site, alongside the Secretary GCDI.
  1. Men at work on different stages on the Caretaker’s and store rooms
  2. The supervisor has kept a keen eye on the project from the first day

Next Steps:

The Gwakabbo School Project Trustees are grateful for all your support thus far. It has been a long wait for us to break the ground. However with the help of those who sponsored the Church Bible Challenge, we were able to set the project to its first building stage, beginning with the Caretaker’s Room, Store Rooms, Pit latrine and Perimeter Fence. These preliminary tasks are paramount to the safety and security of the project. We have not quite finished these, so are asking for you to continue to tell your friends and family about our cause and please donate to the account below using the donate button. We need to raise some more funds to the tune of £ 3500 in order to achieve the following:

  1. Buy roofing materials for the Caretaker’s room and the pit latrine
  2. Sink a borehole on the site to save money as water is very costly.
  3. Complete the perimeter wall