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Wellspring Secondary School Project – February 2011
Due to the huge push throughout 2010 to finish off the Wellspring Academy Secondary School infrastructure projects, Wellsprings’ construction crew was due for their vacation. February was just that time to get some much-needed rest with family and friends for a few weeks.
The only major project completed in February was to rebuild a section of our perimeter wall that had been severely damaged by roadwork’s just outside the campus property. We are very grateful for the tarmac road, but this added than 1 meter of fill outside our property that created stress on our wall.
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Some of the 20+ meters of perimeter wall that we had to tear down, add buttresses and add to the rock foundations, and then rebuild with hydraform blocks.
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This picture shows the 1+ meter of fill on the left hand side of the picture that was added (against our wall) by the contractors who developed the tarmac road that we enjoy.
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Meanwhile in February the only other development was the continued progress by Debbie and Ernie Everts of Grumpy’s Landscaping.
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Meanwhile in February the only other development was the continued progress by Debbie and Ernie Everts of Grumpy’s Landscaping
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Typical walkway that is connecting all the school buildings together.
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February Costs (in US)
$5,559 ~ Total
$2,770 ~ Landscaping
$74 ~ Admin Building
$237 ~ Library + Outfitting
$2,478 ~ Labour
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And the doors are now open!
The Wellspring Secondary School opened it’s doors on January 24th welcoming it’s first incoming class. The Dedication Ceremony took place on January 21st. In attendance, were board members, teachers, students, and several local officials, including the Mayor of Kigali. Celebratory dancing and speeches from the likes of first year secondary school leaders, Enoch and Samantha to the Mayor of Kigali were shared under the newly built Outdoor Auditorium. This was a true celebration, showing the wide range and impact the school will have as students, parents, board members and local officials expressed words of joy, hope and optimism for the young minds that are being empowered through education that transforms lives. After the ceremony, parents toured the new school. The Library was officially dedicated and named the Jeanie Dougan Memorial Library. Mrs. Dougan was a long time Scottish missionary to China who was an inspiration in faith to the donors who generously committed the money for the Library.
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Students, board members, teachers and city officials cut the ribbon on January 24th at the secondary school opening
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Students took to the stage and celebrated through dancing at the school opening
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We also received news that the all 50 students achieved the highest attainable score in Rwanda’s national exam for students graduating from elementary school. This ranks the Wellspring Academy as one of the top performing schools in the country!
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At the end of the ceremony those in attendance were invited to tour the school
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And one more cause for celebration was the release of our laptop computers. All 48 computers were delivered to the Academy about a week after we were told they were missing! We all breathed a sigh of deep relief and much thanks.
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Newly planted grass, trees and shrubs were planted throughout the month of January
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On the construction side a continued bustle of activity took place over the course of January as much work had to be completed prior to the secondary school opening. There were nearly 30 construction crew on site completing sidewalks, planting grass, purchasing and planting flowers, palm trees, and shrubs. Ernie and Deb from Pincher Creek Alberta, owners of Grumpy’s Greenhouses, have spent the last month beautifying the campus with new trees, bushes, and flowers. 25,000 books are now on the library shelves and the science equipment has all been delivered to the chemistry and biology classroom.
January Costs (in US)
$15,713 ~ Total
$2,158 ~ Landscaping
$6,206 ~ Science Building + Outfitting
$1,742 ~ Soccer field
$5,606 ~ Labour
View monthly update in PDF version |
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They arrived!
December saw the much anticipated containers arrive at the Wellspring site. Who would have thought a 25 and 40 foot container could bring so much joy and so much frustration.
Let me explain. The 25 foot container was sent from Annapolis, Maryland in late summer. It sailed through without cause for concern. Our usual procedure is to obtain pre-clearance so that the container can be dropped off directly at the Wellspring site versus usual protocol whereby clearance takes place at the Inland Port near the capital city of Kigali. Unfortunately, our container did end up going to the Inland port whereby 25,000 books were unloaded, cleared via customers and then reloaded into separate trucks. Not a major hiccup but unnecessary re-work. The 40 foot container left near the end of September from Vancouver. We did have pre-clearance and we thought we were in the clear. Sadly, the shipping company, completely ignored the carefully laid instructions and decided to send the container to the Inland Port. Even worse, they broke the seal without any Wellspring official present and had it in their minds eye to unload the goods. Thankfully Jeffery Komant, our Country Director navigated through a tricky set of circumstances and had the Inland Port promptly stop the unloading process. Matters only grew worse when our entire clearance process stopped due to a recent policy change that deemed our 48 refurbished laptops as e-waste. Our shipment was in the waters when this policy took affect, previously only Uganda had such a policy in force. A few days passed and finally our clearance process resumed allowing all other materials to be cleared, except for the laptops. After all the items were unloaded from the container, cleared they then had to be reloaded back into the container and finally taken to the Wellspring academy only to be unloaded once again. The laptops still remain an unknown item. If and when they arrive at the secondary school is one question we can’t answer at this time.
On the positive side, our containers did arrive. The 25,00 books are carefully finding their way into the books shelves. Desks, chairs and much need plywood is being put to use. And we have hope that our students will soon be punching the key board of some 48 laptops. All in all, 2010 ended with a year that saw much success and progress through the continued faithfulness of donors like you and the God we place our trust.
The Crew continued their race towards the finish in completing all the required buildings and outfitting for the start of the Secondary School. If you step back, you can truly see the wonderful form the Wellspring Academy has taken. Above picture shows most of the Secondary School campus plus our 40ft container and smaller 25 ft container on the far right of the picture.
So far, our Secondary School includes(as seen below): two classroom blocks (with eight classrooms within), the Toilet Block, the Jeanie Dougan Memorial Library the Multi Purpose Auditorium, and the Science building.
Shown below, all the books have arrived for the Library and our teacher trainers are working hard to organize them onto the library shelves. Inside the library, the study carols, shelving, and circulation desk were all made by our own work crew on site, all this building completely drained our plywood supply which made the arrival of the 40 foot pretty sweet given it had close to 200 sheets of plywood in it!
Below, the long awaited 40 ft. container arrived on site. The crane helps lift the heavy load of the truck and sets it down. In Vancouver it took nearly 9 hours to fill the container using a pretty beat up forklift. In Rwanda, the boys will have nothing but pure brawn and new gloves to unload the box (I sure hope they found the box of new gloves…we put them right by the door!)
The Crew pulled a heroic task in pushing as hard as they did in order to get the Science lab 98% complete. When we ended our update last month, they had just started plastering the walls. The plywood to make the lab stations and the science equipment itself was the 2% needed to complete the job. The below picture shows the exterior of the general purpose classroom plus the excellent looking retaining wall.
The picture below shows the interior of one of the Science classrooms.
Below, the Crew builds the retaining wall and prepares the site for the next science and computer building.
Ernie and Deb shown below, are an amazing couple from Alberta who run their own greenhouse and landscaping company. They have not only sent countless baskets & irrigation supplies but are volunteering their services in Rwanda. They have done this for the past few years. This time, they will be beautifying the campus with flowers, bushes, and hanging baskets over the next month. If you are every interested in visiting Rwanda, Wellspring plays host to various teams. To learn more email me at
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December Costs (in US)
$23,331 ~ Total
$2,545 ~ Landscaping
$11,347 ~ Science Building + Outfitting
$6,185 ~ Library Building + Outfitting
$3,254 ~ Labour
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With this being our last update of 2010, we wanted to thank and wish you Merry Christmas! Through your continued generosity toward this project, we have had incredible progress. Foundations have been set, bricks have been laid, containers shipped and countless other activities towards building the Wellspring Secondary School have been completed this year. In a few short weeks, the first secondary school students will start their studies and our heart towards, ‘empowering a new generation through education that transforms lives’ will continue to ring true. You are the unsaid names that are making education a reality for these students; thank you for your belief, trust and contribution! Merry Christmas and God bless you & your families during this wonderful season.
Onwards - We left off last months update identifying key donations that came in through the month of October. With this, our project was able to purchase needed material to push towards completion on several items. The month of November saw vigorous progress on the Wellspring Academy due to this funding whereas the past couple of months were a little slower. With only 5 weeks until the infrastructure needs to be completed the crew wasted no time!
We thank God for being able to get the roof on the Outdoor Auditorium. The boys offload the roof sheets for the auditorium in the picture below.
The below picture shows Minani (at the peak), Musonera (in the middle) and Freddie (hidden behind the mango tree) bravely putting the roof sheets on the Outdoor Auditorium over the course of two-days.
Meanwhile, the trusses and purlins for the Science block were put in place with the help of Hassan.
Roofing the Science block was next on the list, followed by the brickwork on the gable ends and above the ring beam
Above picture shows the brickwork being completed above the ring beam with the roof nearing completion on the science block.
Nyambo began working on the metal framework for the ceilings in the science labs.
Extra hands were called to start the plastering of the interior walls of the Science block, further funding is required to fully complete the interior of the Science block.
David in one of the two science labs, with the completed metal ceiling frame above and freshly plastered walls behind.
From across the parking lot you can see the completed blue roofs of all four buildings that will be used for the start of the Wellspring Academy Secondary Section (grade 7) in January of next year!
Up next in December:
Science building:
- Complete ceiling tiles,
- Electrical & plumbing for the science block
- Plus a build a major retaining wall in front of the science labs.
Landscaping:
- Complete the cement pathways between library and science labs
- And complete grass planting
Other activities include outfitting and setting up the library and labs, we are hoping to receive the 20 ft container soon with the 40ft to follow!
November Costs (in US):
$21,973 ~ Total
$1,665 ~ Landscaping
$12,145 ~ Science Building
$1,210 ~ Library Building
$2,709 ~ Labour
$4,244 ~ Outdoor Auditorium
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