Let's Build a School

On June 8th, after 4 months of planning, ground was broken on the new "Prototype" classroom at TASOK. The whole school showed up for the ceremony (it was mandatory). We are currently in the middle of week 3 and construction is in full swing. Materials are starting to arrive at the port of Matadi. One of our biggest concerns was the logistics of shipping in materials from outside the DRC, so this is really good news.

Matt is the tall one with the hard hat under the sign on the wall

Day 1- demolition begins

Smash! Wooden trusses have been used to support the roof for over 50 years. The wood was still in great condition so we are actually reclaiming a lot of this lumber to be reused for interior finishes and other construction material. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Middle of week 2. That was fast. Demolition is nearly complete. Hope it doesn't rain too much. Good thing its the dry season . . .

Those are some big window openings, and they are just the start.  There will be another set of windows above each of those openings. Nearly the whole wall will be operable louvered glass for maximum light and ventilation. The goal is to use less power for lights and cooling. The contractor is checking the floor for level.  Unexpected bonus.

Start of week 3. Demolition is complete. Formwork starts for new reinforced concrete beams. There will be a 20,000 liter rainwater collection and storage system where the scaffolding is. That's roughly 5,000 gallons - a lot of water. The water will be used for irrigation or toilet flushing. The long-term campus goal is to be independent of the water company.

From the top of the wall. For being 50 years old, the foundation, walls, and slabs are in great shape.

 

Levels, tape measures, masonry saws and more. I didn't expect this level of quality. I'm impressed.

After sitting in a conference room for several months extracting and organizing the ideas of the building committee, then getting them to agree on the appearance, function, and acceptable cost of the building, producing and reviewing drawings, selecting and reviewing materials, establishing a schedule, and everything else that goes into project management before construciton, it is good to be on site again seeing the tangible product our labor.

Puppy Naming Contest!!!

We would like to introduce the newest member of our family. He is 5 weeks old, full of mites and fleas, and is a little shaky when he walks, but we are very excited to welcome him into our home (after a few more weeks with his mama). We need a little help though. He needs a name. We would like to collect names from anyone following this blog. So please provide name by commenting on this post. We prefer names that are Africa themed, do not end with a "y", and are less than 6 letters long. Here are a few we are considering:

Brai - Name for South African Barbeque (rhymes with why and tie)
Beau - Handsome in french (rhymes with toe)
Kivu - Area in eastern DRC where Gorillas live and arguably the most diverse area in the country (keevoo)
Tik - This Is Kinshasa (a phrase we use very often here), as well as something he's probably covered in!
Bongo  - just cause
Chio - rhymes with "cleo", from the french word for "puppy"

Just to put things in perspective

Although we often use this forum to express the strange and difficult, and sometimes wonderful, details of our lives here, we are occasionally reminded of the bigger picture, and why we're here, and what the price is.
On that note, Toni Lyn's colleague who helps manage a national park in DRC sent this photo and message as a response to her flippant "Hope all is well":
"All is not well here; a lot of Sudanese elephant poachers have showed up and they are quite brazen.  It's a struggle to control this park and this is a protected area with few people on its boundaries."

Note the piece of trunk in the center of the picture

When I asked him if I could post this, he responded "Sure you can use the picture.  We finished our aerial survey of big mammals (survey also notes camps, poachers and other things) a few weeks ago but not before we were shot at.  We fly at 350 feet above ground.  Fiston behind me saw some people crouched; I circled back and as we came over we heard the shots despite having headsets and a loud engine.  They did not hit us.  On the way back I went to 1400 feet , out of range of a AK47, and they shot at us again.  LRA or Sudanes, don't know."

June 7 Update: Lord’s Resistance Army attack threatens headquarters at Garamba National Park, north-eastern DRC

http://www.africanconservation.org/201206072628/conservation-news-section/lords-resistance-army-attack-threatens-headquarters-at-garamba-national-park-north-eastern-drc#.T9bwsoYjzYs.email 

Just to put things in perspective...