So here's the update on the school project:
This is the condition of the current school:
The village is totally stoked about the idea, and I'm trying to keep them included in every step of the process. When I get back to site, I'm going to work for a day with the kids in the school to draw pictures of what they want the new building to look like. Then we're having a community meeting to look at the kids drawings, my interpretations of them, and get any other input that people feel strongly about.
We're leaning toward using compressed earth bricks, because the village wants concrete, which is expensive and not really available locally, over adobe bricks, so we settled in the middle with compressed earth bricks. I'm still looking for engineers to help with the water harvesting system.
As for the women's garden, things have started growing, and a few of the plots are doing great. We're having a little trouble with chickens getting in and eating everything, so the next step looks like we'll have to improve the fence, either by getting a metal fence, or planting really thorny bushes all around it.
All of the millet harvesting is finished, so the village is now busy with adobe brick production to fix up their houses before the rainy season:
I'm off to Senegal in a few days, to play softball, lay by the beach, and eat fish! I couldn't be more excited.
p.s. This is the inside of my house (since I've never posted a picture of it):
Cozy, huh?
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