Over the past few months most of the information highlighted has been the ‘bricks and mortar’ activity. However this month we start off with news of a $50,000 grant. These funds will go towards outfitting activities to purchase computers, biology and chemistry equipment plus various supplies to finish the secondary school.

Meanwhile, back in Rwanda we are seeing the beginnings of transition from rainy season to dry season. The brilliant green that envelops most of Rwanda for the greater part of the year begins to give way to a bit more dust. Through the month of June we will head into the dry season that will last until the end of August.

Sanitation Block Update & Re-cap

With the exception of connecting waste lines to the eventual site of a sewage treatment plant, the Sanitation Block is 99% complete.

Recall Musonera and Bosco who worked throughout the night to ensure
the newly poured slab was saved due to the heavy rains in February.

Brickwork was the priority throughout the month of March, the ring beam
was poured and the trusses and purlins were put onto the building.

Exterior of the completed Sanitation Block.

Interior of the completed Sanitation Block

Our thanks to the Rwandan construction crew and Vernon team who raised support through various creative fundraising activities; like the high school flushathon! Your creativity, dedication and heart to help are changing lives.

Library Building:

As hoped, in May we managed to finish the library walls up to the level of the ring beam.

Before: Here we see the start of the library brickwork make its way up.

After: Library at the end of May all brickwork is complete with the ring
being also completed. Next up is trusses, purlins and roof sheets.

The Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs from the District of Gasabo came to pay us a visit. He checked up on the progress of the Library and wondered why we weren’t doing more of this awesome work all over his district!

From right to left: Jeffery, Country Director, Narcisse, Vice Mayor and Safari friend
to Vice Mayor on Wellspring Academy site looking at the Library building.

Landscaping

We continued progress to make the landscaping of our project a lot prettier and more functional.

Whereas a couple of months ago above the secondary school we just had a weed- surrounded workshop area, we have now made a landscaped area that will be planted with grass come the next rainy season.

Before: weeds, brush and containers were located above the secondary school building

After: large trees remain and by next rainy season grass will be planted

As part of the landscaping project, we have connected pathways from the secondary section to the primary section.

Pathway at the top of the Secondary School connects to the Primary School below

Plus connected pathways between the Secondary School Sanitation Facility and the Library. These were all completed over the past few months.

Sanitation Block is 99% complete with connected pathways leading up to the Secondary
School general classroom buildings and leading down towards the Library

Wellspring Academy Secondary School Campus: two classroom blocks shown in left side of
above picture, Sanitation Block (not visible) behind mango trees in the center of the picture,
Library building in right background and in front of the Library is the Outdoor Auditorium.

Upcoming Next Month:

Library Building - Setting the trusses, putting on the purlins and the roof, finishing the gable ends.

Outdoor Auditorium - Pouring the entry ramp and floor and starting the brickwork

May Costs (in US)

• $23,034 ~ Total
• $6,020 ~ Landscaping
• $7,515 ~ Sanitation Block
• $7,092 ~ Library Building
• $2,347 ~ Labour
• $60 ~ Other

Click here to download a pdf of the full update

We once again welcome new readers from Buy a Brick, Build a School campaign that have come into contact with this project.

We start this month’s update on more of a solemn note as the month of April marked the 16^th year since the ’94 genocide in Rwanda. Each April, Rwandans commemorate the genocide through a week of mourning where business, schools and government are either closed or focused on memorial services throughout Rwanda. For our construction crew working on the Secondary School, there was mixed emotion as the crew remembered what they and their countrymen endured, yet at the same time their efforts are literally focused on building the future of Rwanda. As the construction crew made there way back to work their collective determination and energy is apparent in their work that we highlight.

Christian Life Assembly, our local partner within Rwanda kindly donated the time of some staff to our project: two skilled masons, a talented welder plus his assistant and two other helpful hands that worked along side our crew for three weeks. The extra helping hands greatly aided our efforts in making solid progress within the month of April.

Sanitation Block

With the shell of the sanitation block now complete, efforts were focused on outfitting. Hassan, CLA’s welder, completed the toilet dividing walls, while others worked on connecting concrete pathways to the general purpose classrooms.

Hassan welding toilet dividing walls	David and crew connecting waste lines.	Kayumu digging down 12 meters making the septic soak tank pit

David, who this month became a proud dad of a baby boy and Bosco connected the waste lines. The last item required a deep effort on Kayumu’s behalf who dug down into the earth 12 meters with nothing more than a sawed off pick and a buddy up above with a rope and bucket to haul up the soil; the end result was the septic soak pits for our sanitation block.

Concrete pathway leading up to the nearly completed Sanitation Block

Newly installed toilet with walls freshly painted

Library Building

With all the mixing and pouring of 866 square feet of concrete completed, the crew shifted its efforts to the brickwork of the library.  The library is made up of three group workrooms and a main library hall. By the end of the month, one third of the brickwork was competed with windows and doors framed into the bricks.

The crew starts the process of laying bricks down.

Library walls make their way up, while in the background the tops of the primary schools are visible

Other Efforts

Continued progress on pathways and drainage ditch covers took place throughout the month of April. We are nearing completion in covering the drainage ditches that carry large sums of water in the rainy season plus having a well-laid pathway between the primary school (at the bottom of the campus) and the secondary school.

Pathway works its way up from the primary school to the secondary school. Parking lot is
on the left of the picture with the secondary school on the right side of the picture.

Pathway works its way down the hill to the top of the primary school shown on the right hand side of the picture. This pathway will extend down to the valley where the secondary school sports facility is scheduled to be built.

Upcoming for next month

Sanitation Block – Finalize the last details on the interior, including installation of the last few sinks and completing the toilet doors. Waste lines will need to be installed towards the location of the future Sewage Treatement Facility; a project that still requires further funding to complete.

Library – The brickwork for the library is planned to reach the ring beam level with all the doors and windows being set. Work will also start on welding the trusses for the library in their place.

Pathways – Continued work will take place in pouring cement between various buildings and landscaping the green spaces in between the various secondary school buildings.

April Costs (in US)

$23,034 ~ Total

$6,020 ~ Landscaping

$7,515 ~ Sanitation Block

$7,092 ~ Library Building

$2,347 ~ Labour

$60 ~ Other

Click here to download a pdf of the full update

A welcome to our new readers that joined us through their support of Buy a Brick, Build a School campaign this month!

March saw strong, steady progress towards building the Sanitation Block and Library plus continued progress on landscaping/land preparation.

Sanitation Block

The walls were pushed up with the ring beam being formed and poured this past month. The trusses and purlins were also affixed to the building in order and the roof was installed. We are nearing the end of the Sanitation Block being complete.

The building crew secures the trusses to the newly built up walls of the Sanitation Block.	In March, the roof was laid atop the trusses and secured.

Library Building

With last month being as wet as it was, the crew was happy to have a few days of dry weather to form and pour the floor slab. Over 20 additional casual laborers joined the 18 exisiting crew for 2 tough days of mixing and pouring all 866 square feet of concrete. Next up will be doing the brickwork to push up the walls.

There were two brutish days of shovel mixing and pouring for the hard working crew.	Library floor slab nearing completion, thankfully no sudden rains like last month when the Sanitation floor slab was poured.

A little help from our friend

Joe Cocker may not have been thinking of DJ Devries when he penned the words to his famous song, ‘A little help from our friends’ but they are nonetheless fitting. DJ, once again came out to Rwanda from Vancouver to help with the interior of the building. This time his stay was for 3 weeks. During that time the Library’s overall interior layout was designed. Ideas quickly became action with book shelves, individual study carols, book displays and the librarian’s circulation desk being built. DJ worked with Benjamin and Freddie, two of our local crew, to cut and machine all the pieces for the furniture then began assembeling many of the newly built interior shelves and desks. Through their combined efforts, we are well ahead of the curve for outfitting the library.

Freddie drills one of 15,000 holes over three days for the library’s adjustable bookshelves	Benjamin chisels out a groove for the side of a study carol.
DJ inspects the side of the newly built library shelves	Back to school for DJ!

Landscaping/land preparation project

March saw continued work on the campus:

1. Prepare space for the Sanitation Block water supply tanks (below left).
2. Started building a new shelter for the electricty distribution (below right).
3. Continued forming and pouring for the drainage ditch covers around campus.

On the right side of the picture inside the formed area will rest the 30,000 liters of water that will supply the secondary school Sanitation block.	Shelter being built for electric distribution.

March Costs (in US)

$19,309 ~ Total

$936 ~ Landscaping

$5,744 ~ Sanitation Block

$5,871 ~ Library Building

$1,137 ~ Library Outfitting

$87 ~ Outdoor Auditorium

$5,534 ~ Labour

Upcoming for next month

• Sanitation Block: complete plastering walls, welding interior frames and doors for washroom stalls, putting in the supply lines, toilets and sinks.
• Library: start on brickwork, placement of the doorframes, and welding of windows.
• Landscaping: Work to be completed around the Sanitation block above and around the secondary school classrooms (putting in grass and hedges). Plus complete the covering of the drainage ditches with walkways between the secondary school section and the primary school section.

Click here to download a pdf of the full update

Just a little “under the weather”

This may be the wettest February in the living memory of Rwanda, and our construction team found themselves cold, wet, and a little behind schedule. Usually, January and February are dry months and prove good for building foundations and pouring floor slabs. We expect the rains to come in at the end of March and throughout April, and we plan our building process accordingly. So when the downfall came this February we were really taken by surprise.

Sanitation Block

Foundations were completed, waste lines installed, floor slab poured and first course of bricks were laid this month. We had a tremendous efforts carried out by Musonera and Bosco who completed an amazing 24-hours shift after the skies opened up and down poured on the freshly poured floor slab. The two of them Construction Supervisor David Ngirimana (left) smiles at the irony of one of our truckloads of bricks for the sanitation facility bogged down in the mud during the “dry” season. ! worked hard throughout the night taking turns in the damp cold then seeking refuge in the meeting room building for a few winks of sleep and some hot chai. 6:15 am: Musonera completes the extraordinary 24-hour shift having tag-teamed with Bosco to finish the floor slab. ! Sanitation Block, continued Throughout the month of March the walls will be pushed up, ring beam poured and hopefully the roof of the sanitation block completed. Also we are working to complete the water storage and dig the main water lines to the facility.

Library Building

Despite the rain, mud and wheelbarrows sloshing through it all, the foundations for the library were completed this month. All told, 60 bags of cement, 15 loads of large rough rock, 4 loads of course red sand, 4 loads of fine sand, and approximately 1,680 man hours of labour resulted in the foundation for the library’s main hall and 3 study rooms being completed. Similar to our other The crew works on laying out the first course of bricks for the sanitation block, watch out for the puddles. original stable soil prior to laying down the foundational wall for the library.

We have bricks!

This month saw the delivery of 30,000 locally fired red bricks that will go towards the library and the Sanitation Block. Unlike previous times, bricks were available in the timeframe that was promised as subsequent times we’ve had to wait anywhere from 1 – 2 months.

Landscaping

This month’s landscaping activity saw us complete two sections of the retaining wall to stop erosion and improve the aesthetics of the site. The first retaining wall was built up by the staff-housing unit located on campus and the other was built by the parking lot.

Click here to download a pdf of the full update