Project phasing

We are currently finishing up the first phase of construction—four classrooms, staff offices, kitchen/cafeteria, latrines, water supply, housing for five teachers, and a solar power system for the school buildings and teacher’s houses. This will create the infrastructure for four years of operation, taking the first class of kindergartners through Standard 3 (Grade 3). When Twegashe School’s first kindergarten class reaches Standard 2, we will begin the second phase of construction, adding four additional classrooms, a library, administrative offices, and more teacher housing.

School design

The construction design process is being led by volunteer architects from Gensler, a global design and architecture firm, through their G-Serve community outreach program. Volunteers from Swenson Say Faget structural engineering are providing the required structural analysis. We have also worked with a Tanzanian architect to make sure our construction plans meet all government requirements.

Village involvement

Twegashe School is being built on a fifteen-acre plot of land donated by the village. We are committed to involving village labor as much as possible and to having these laborers benefit by learning skills that they can use in the future.

The design and construction of school facilities employ environmentally sustainable techniques whenever possible.

• The Phase I school building is powered by solar energy. We plan to eventually install solar power in all the buildings on campus and to pump water using solar power.

• Toilets at the school and in the teachers’ houses are “microflush biofil toilets”. These toilets use only a cupful of water to flush. A worm-based composting system digests the waste, rapidly converting it to compost that can be safely used on the garden. In keeping with the model of the Global Sustainable Aid Project—the organization which promotes these toilets—we included a local builder in the training to make the toilets, enabling that builder to eventually establish a small business making toilets for the community. You can read more about microflush biofil toilets and other toilet systems in our blog.

• Our school layout leaves dedicated space near the kitchen for a biodigester so that when our agriculture program has grown to include livestock we will be able to use biogas instead of propane for cooking.

• We will also promote environmental sustainability through the curriculum and through occasional school-sponsored programs aimed toward the wider community.