Tehisuma School Update!
You are welcome to our newest and most improved school in Tamaligu! Check out pictures of the school on Facebook!
The Tehisuma School’s expansion was graciously funded by a multitude of generous donors in the U.S., to whom we are deeply grateful for. These donors helped us take one step closer to a better education in a community that will certainly benefit from it. With a $7,800 grant plus substantial local contributions, gifts and efforts, we were able to build a three classroom building with an office, library room and a detached kitchen house standing alongside our existing small three classroom mud block. Unfortunately, I have to say we almost completed it.
Despite our exhaustive haggling with quite literally everything from how much water the laborers drink to how much their work itself is worth, our grant dried up leaving a few pressing items required to finish: doors, windows, flooring, plastering and other miscellaneous items. We are asking for an additional $1,000 to complete these items.
100% of your donation will go directly to the school's construction and is tax deductible.
Our funding was depleted for a number of reasons, though all laborers and materials have been paid to date. Firstly and most importantly, it’s challenging to budget for large projects in the village setting. The closest you can do is a ballpark estimate until the laborers physically see what they’re going to be doing, or how much material they will need. Second, we elected to self-contract the project to save money, but the downside is we were simply inexperienced, despite me coming from a family of contractors! Unexpected costs add up, particularly extra support labor and food costs, as it is custom to supply food for the workers or a food allowance. As frustrating as an incomplete school can be, all costs and labor have been accurately accounted and already negotiated in this new online fundraiser. Currently, work continues on completing the existing block through our local fundraiser.
[Why build it?] I think that this is worth our money and time because education is a root for better health and wellbeing. The students will better position themselves to think differently, hopefully bringing about change for better health and wellbeing in their community. This is why I would support the school, because I don’t believe that Peace Corps, NGO or any resource dump can bring about such change in any authentic way on its own from the outside-in. But I hope that we can provide the tools that allow the people in Tamaligu to do so on their own time, so they can best decide how to best handle their own situations.
Facts on the construction:
-The first day of construction was September 9th, and the roof was finished on November 1st. The new school is being used despite it being incomplete with a dirt floor and no doors.
-About two thirds of the first $7,800 grant was spent on building materials, such as cement, sand, lumber, rebar and sheet roofing. The remaining was predominantly labor and food costs. Food is included because it is customary either to provide meals or food allowance for laborers, and is used as a bargaining chip. Food costs and unskilled labor were over-budget, but skilled labor was under-budget.
-All costs for the new $1,000 fundraiser have been more accurately made and negotiated.
-Peace Corps requires that communities provide a portion of the project cost, as is due. This also better ensures projects won’t become too large and unsustainable, and that there is appropriate buy-in. There’s an endless list that the community did with nearly everything in between of the main points of construction. It was mostly headed by the PTA, who dug the foundation, fetched water, moved all the cement blocks, provided support labor for the crews, cooked all the food, provided some of the food, cut neem trees for additional lumber, fencing and others. The neighbors kept our building material safe in their homes. Our village’s lorry was incredibly lenient in picking up building materials in the city for us. The school is already indebted to the generosity of the community members! In addition, the other primary school has an excess of desks that it will provide for us. In hard cash, we did an initial fundraiser outside of school fees in September, and another one is underway as a “Registration Fee” for the new school. The teachers have also invested some of their own money in the school. Keep in mind that $7,800 is a lot of money in the village, a one-season farming community. Without substantial outside investment, the progress very slowly chugs along and the structure we build wouldn't be practical, so this is obviously not something that could be afforded. Compare the pictures of the new building and the existing one.
-Once the money for this new grant is transferred to Ghana, the remaining work should take about two weeks to complete.
-Items not included in this revised budget, but we would like to do in a perfect world or when the school generates its own money:
Build a latrine (toilet)
Build a functional handwashing station
Install electricals
Paint
Get school materials and books
Install book shelves
Set up an assistance program for students to purchase basic supplies or uniforms
Get rudimentary playground equipment
Sporting equipment: soccer balls, volleyballs, frisbees
The sky is the limit here. Please contact me in any way if you are interested in helping in any of these ways or anything else (WhatsApp or email preferred, or Facebook). For now, however, the new fundraiser is more pressing.
