Great progress has been made at Hope CDSS this month. The roofs of the classroom block and science block are on, so plastering is now moving on apace.
Teacher housing and toilet foundations have been completed and the walls will be built in June.
The local workers are brilliant, hardworking and diligent. We continue to provide soap for them and their families weekly and encourage them to practise social distancing.
The main challenges are the supply of water and power, both for the secondary school and also the primary school. Currently we are employing 10 local ladies to collect water for the building work. Sadly the borehole is low yield and the amount of water needed is not available from the borehole. Because of this, in the afternoons, the ladies go to the river to collect water.
We are talking to drillers about siting a borehole on either the primary or secondary school land, which will provide water for the feeding programme at the primary school and for the secondary school toilets, lab and teacher housing. This will take considerable pressure off the community borehole.
Provision of power seems to be a game changer in Malawi. At a basic level power enables work to be done after sun down (6pm in Malawi). It enables phones to be charged, and radios to operate. A fridge enables food to be kept so that the number of times a week people go to market is reduced. Where there is power there is also business: welding, buildings carpentry businesses spring up where there is power.
The area around Chipwepwete has no power currently. Although there are plans for the whole area to be electrified this will not happen imminently. Therefore we would like to provide solar power for the primary and secondary school. This will be primarily used for powering computers, lighting, and teachers housing.
If you would like to help provide water and power for the primary and secondary school please make your donation here.
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