AYALABE VILLAGE SCHOOL - TEACHER RESIDENCES 1 & 2

UPDATE NO. 1 - 21 Dec 2013

Hi All

Greetings from Africa Tanzania

This trip involves some very exciting and new developments to our work here.

The first involves the design itself of our current project, the Teacher Residence building. The construction is well underway. The floor slabs are done and the concrete brick walls are being mortared in. The rains have delayed progress a little, but the weather has been wonderful in the past week, so the workers are going hard at it.

This is a milestone project. For the first time, the design of these residences features an indoor kitchen, toilet room and shower room. As far as I know, this is a first for residences in this region, if not the country. I’m enjoying spending considerable time discussing the plumbing design with Mathew and the builder because it will be such a major lifestyle adjustment to more “modern” facilities.

Cooking outdoor with wood and its associated respiratory dangers will be replaced with a more environmentally friendly stove (wood or gas) that will sit on one end of a smooth concrete countertop. A sink with water supply will sit at the other end. The toilet will be a tiled finished room with a proper porcelain fixture to replace the outhouse. There will be a separate shower room. All waste will drain to a septic tank system. The overall effect will be tremendously improved sanitation. I look forward to the reactions of the new tenants.

concrete brick walls - 80% complete

The Glenwood Elementary Connection

Another unprecedented experience is a the initiation of a pen-pal relationship between our first Canadian elementary school “Coins For Classrooms” partner, Glenwood Elementary in Maple Ridge, BC, and the Gongali village school here. Thirty enthusiastic kids at Glenwood, under the creative guidance of teacher James White, each wrote a letter for their Tanzanian counterpart. They also gave instructions for the Tanzanian kids to do “5-line” art. I will be getting letters and artwork back from them to take back to Canada. I gave the package to Mark Mollel, one of the teachers at Gongali and he enthusiastically welcomed this experience for his kids. How exciting is this? How about the potential effect of this on the lives of the children from both countries; of injecting third world aid energy into such young minds?

More later in the next update.