March Progress Report

 

We’re happy to report that we are making steady progress in our preparations to build Twegashe Primary School! Here are excerpts from our March newsletter highlighting some of that progress.

Trip to Tanzania

In late January, we took a two-week trip to Tanzania with our volunteer builder, Bill Suhr. During the first week we drove across northern Tanzania, covering close to 700 miles and visiting seven different schools along the way. From these visits we gathered lots of helpful ideas about construction techniques and materials. Perhaps even more important, we met people who have already successfully navigated the complexities of undertaking a project in Tanzania. All of them were very eager to provide information, and have encouraged us to contact them as questions arise in the future. This is an invaluable resource—since our return we have already taken several of them up on their offers!

We spent the second week of our trip in Bushasha. Here we accomplished our primary goal, to survey the school site and get a better idea of the slopes so that our architectural team can move ahead with detailed school design. Our measurements revealed that the level space on the upper part of our plot will probably not be sufficient to construct the entire school as we had originally planned. Instead, we will build the administrative block and teachers’ housing on the upper part of the plot, and all the other school buildings down below. This will give administration a birds-eye-view of the rest of the school. It will also prevent students from being distracted by activity on the nearby road. We’re thinking that, independent of space considerations, this arrangement may actually be preferable to our original design.

Construction materials update

We’ve been doing a lot of research in our effort to choose the most suitable construction blocks for the school. Our plan from early on has been to use interlocking stabilized soil blocks (ISSBs) made by compressing soil that has been mixed with a small amount of cement. These blocks are more environmentally-friendly than the baked bricks used in most local construction because they require no firing. One drawback with the type of ISSBs we were originally considering is that they are solid, and therefore rebar cannot be inserted to provide earthquake resistance. Earthquakes are not common in the area around Bushasha, but in 2016 there was a 5.7 magnitude quake centered only about 40 miles from the village. As a result, we are committed to using earthquake-resistant construction methods. Although it is possible to construct earthquake-resistant buildings with solid blocks, we decided to look for a better option. Through the wonders of the internet search, we think we may have found that option. The Indian company Aureka, billing themselves as a maker of earth-friendly construction machinery, sells a hand-operated press that makes hollow, interlocking ISSBs approved for use in high earthquake severity zones in India. They have apparently exported these machines to a large number of countries, including a few in Africa. Tanzania was not on the list, but it may soon be added!

Water supply news

Our plan for providing water to the school and teachers’ houses is to drill a borehole and pump water, either by wind power or solar power, into elevated tanks that can then supply the school by gravity. In researching our options for how best to accomplish this, we came across the St. Photini’s Well project, sponsored by St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, CA, and working in northwestern Tanzania, where Bushasha is located. We reached out with some questions, and before we knew it, they were offering to drill the well for us, as long as we would then make water available to the villagers as well as to the school. Since we wanted to do that anyway, we readily agreed! We are currently working with St. Photini’s on the scheduling for this project, making sure we will have water available when we are ready to begin construction.

501(c)(3) approval

One piece of very good news that awaited us when we returned from Tanzania was our determination letter from the IRS. CORE Tanzania is now an approved 501(c)(3) public charity, which means donations are tax-deductible. It also means that we are now eligible and will be signing up for a variety of programs–Amazon Smile, for example–that are only open to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Team member shout-outs

Finally, some shout-outs for new “team” members, or not-so-new members we haven’t yet introduced. The first is our friend, Marc Oplinger, architect and senior project manager at Gensler. Marc is generously contributing his own time to work with our design and construction team. He is full of creative ideas, and we’re thrilled to have him on board!

Another team member who deserves a huge “thank you” is Geraz Henerico, our behind-the-scenes person in Tanzania. Geraz, who grew up in Bushasha, is the one gathering information and making sure things are moving over there while we are not present. He’s also our advisor on many issues, since he is familiar with the situation “on-the-ground”. It’s impossible to list all he has done for us already, and he’s doing it all while also holding a full-time job as a high school principal and being father to three adorable young children.

Our newest team member is Mike Tully, a friend whose day job is IT architect at Boeing. When Mike found out about this project, he enthusiastically volunteered to help wherever we could use him. A few brainstorming sessions together revealed that he loves planning and also loves learning new things. He seemed to be interested in the details of every aspect of the project, from construction to curriculum. It didn’t take long to figure out the perfect role for Mike—he has now been designated our official project manager. As the project grows more complex, with many inter-related processes that all need to be kept on track, having someone to serve in this role will be extremely helpful!

Thank you for your interest and support as we work to turn our vision of quality education for the children of Bushasha into reality.

Asante sana!

Michael Banobi
CORE Tanzania Board President