New School Project - A non-profit NGO, volunteer work available to help orphans.

New School Project

Thursday, 01 January 2009 09:37

Cost: $200,000

Raised: 63%

The largest single project ever undertaken by us is the dream to build a new government recognised school to give our children a far better education and ultimately a much better future.

With outside admissions we hope to have a student base of over 1000 children within 3 years.

The school has potential to support the orphanage through admission fees.

Outside of school hours we hope to run adult education classes, free medical camps, conferences and have a facility for local community meetings.

Right now we are working on Stage 2 of the building plans, after we decided on a basic design we have now begun to look at the practical layout of the school as well as things like room sizes, plumbing and lighting. Stage 3 will involve taking the plans to an architect for final checking.

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18/01/2009 Update!
With Stage 3 now complete and with architect approved plans in hand we have now begun marking out the grounds in preparation for starting the foundations! The updated images (including a floor plan) can be seen below. This gives a very good idea of what we expect the new building to look like. Our hopes are that we will be able to start the foundations soon (within the week). The area in which the school will be built is prone to flooding and as a result will require tonnes of soil to raise it up (out of the flood area).

{highslide}projects/school3.jpg&captionText:'The original concept design for the school.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school2.jpg&captionText:'The approved Floor Plan..'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school4.jpg&captionText:'Arial view of location and proposed road re-direction.'{/highslide}

23/01/2009 Update!
We have now begun levelling the land and digging the foundations for the building. This will be a long process and one which we must take special care with as the area is prone to flooding and thus the foundations must be done right.

{highslide}projects/school5.jpg&captionText:'Day 5 - Construction Site.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school6.jpg&captionText:'Day 6 - Construction Site.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school7.jpg&captionText:'Day 7 - Construction Site.'{/highslide}

02/02/2009 Update!
Foundations have now been dug, photos will show that unfortunately certain sections have collapsed in (due to a high water table) and as such we will have to wait a few months for the land to dry out before we work on those sections. In the meantime we will concentrate on other parts of the building where we have already dug down to bedrock. We have already begun bringing in truck loads of large stones for this work.

{highslide}projects/school8.jpg&captionText:'Digging the foundations.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school9.jpg&captionText:'Several trees had to be removed.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school10.jpg&captionText:'With a high water table we had to battle with collapsing walls.'{/highslide}

10/03/2009 Update!
After getting all the levels right we have now started placing the foundation stones in... this work is being done by hired builders and labourers. It should only take a few weeks to get up to one meter below ground level (where we will start the foundation beams).

16/06/2009 Update!
With the foundation walls now complete the race is on to fill the rooms with dirt before the monsoon. The monsoon will settle the earth well and add strength to the building. These images show the foundation walls which are built up to floor level. All of the surrounding area must have dirt filled in up to that level. Construction on the walls will hopefully commence later in the year -if we can get the finance.

{highslide}projects/school11.jpg&captionText:'With the foundation walls up you can start to see the shape of the school.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school12.jpg&captionText:'The older boys spent a few days helping out.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school13.jpg&captionText:'Shifting out the gravel and building the ground up with dirt.'{/highslide}

25/06/2009 Update!
The dirt has now been filled up level with the building walls. We now wait for the monsoon rains which should settle it all well. Generally the monsoon ends around late October. Also attached are two more photos showing the plans for the first stage of the building.

{highslide}projects/school14.jpg&captionText:'Filling in the dirt.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school16.jpg&captionText:'Stage 1.'{/highslide}{highslide}projects/school17.jpg&captionText:'Stage 1.'{/highslide}

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