Construction of Kkoba School

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I’d like to share with you a little about this awesome school we are building! This school is being built by the collaboration of purpose projects and hopeline NGO’s. All us volunteers were required to raise $5000 in order for this school to be built. The whole school is going to be built for less than $75,000. Incredible! Obviously the main reason we are here is for Kkoba school construction. But because the labour is so hard on the body, especially in this heat, we rotate around groups sometimes doing half days at the school then going to outreach programmes. But we do a max of 4 full days of digging a week. Our job is to just follow the instruction of Samuel, the ‘project manager’ of the school. So far, we’ve plastered, dug and hoed. We’ve levelled floors and made then laid cement. We make concrete by mixing sand, water, a little bit of cement and lots of Little Rock’s. We’ve dug so much dirt and moved it all into the classrooms. Once there’s enough dirt in there, we level the floor and stamp it down with two bits of heavy wood nailed together before concrete can be laid. Half of the classrooms are now concreted and walls plastered, and they are looking so good! Two of the three blocks and the toilet block now have roof’s. And just today one block has been finished up with blackboards! We’ve also dug a massive trench around the porch of the school, allowing for rain water and steps to be built. Lucky my dad made me help him with the trench in the sounds the week before I came! Because this one was next level. The few days that were spent levelling out the ground in front of the classrooms which was mentally hard knowing even a simple rake would make the job so much easier. The hands are blistered and chaliced from the rough wooden handles, but the back has adapted and doesn’t get as sore anymore. It’s amazing, when we are at the school, half the children from the holiday programme come along and pick up shovels and stamps to help us. It is adorable. The progress the school has made since we first arrived has been incredible too. We must celebrate the small victories like the last wheelbarrow of soil in a class or the floor getting flat. As for the school plans - we are finishing three teaching blocks with a total of 12 classrooms that will hold up to 200 children each. There is a toilet block with 6 toilets and a medical centre being built. The land for the school is around 9 acres, allowing us to create a farm. This will be used to both feed the children of the school and to sell on with the idea of creating an income to run the school. It’s such a cool idea and agriculture here is huge so will be a great asset to have for the school. There will be a field levelled out to make a football pitch, rugby pitch and netball court for the children. Everything is made out of brick, bamboo and cement. And absolutely everything is done by hand. No machines. No shortcuts. Just the hard yards to get the mahi done. It has been hard yakka but all is worth it when we think about how many children will be benefitted and lives changed from having access to this school. Our literal blood, sweat and tears have gone into constructing this place which in itself gives you a huge sense of reward. Another two weeks of hard work to get as much done as we can! Then another group of volunteers are coming over in January to finish it all off before the school is due to open in Feb. See ya soon, from Kkoba school!!