Changes and Frustrations (We should be starting any day now...)

For the sake of candor, I feel obliged to write about the bad was well as the good regarding this epic school project.  First let me say that we still expect to start buying materials and making bricks any day now.  We've been saying that for almost a year now.  Here's where we're at:  Kyle and I raised over $20,000 (thanks to many of you) toward the cost of the school.  We then partnered with the organization BuildOn to fund the remainder of the budget and help oversee construction.  BuildOn cannot finalize their commitment to the project until we know all the details of the budget, i.e. total cost of the project.  We can't finalize the budget until we stop making changes.  Which should be any day now.  

Last week, we thought we had a final budget until it turned out the total cost of the project was nearly $80,000 - much more than we expected.  The original goal of the design was to introduce the technologies of compressed earth bricks and rainwater harvesting, to develop a LESS expensive alternative to Mali's standard cement construction.  But so much had been added to the design that this benefit was no longer discernible.  Thus we began the process of value engineering.  We have since settled on a scheme that keeps the original goals of design intact and takes out the unnecessary expensive materials (like I-beam columns and metal roof trusses).  These changes brought the budget down to $60,000 which is a much more manageable figure. 

 But we're still not out of the woods.  Construction in Mali has to happen in within a precise window of time based on seasonal changes and farming calendars.  It's very difficult to continue projects during the hot season, the rainy season, or during the harvest.  Even if we start construction now, there's a chance we'd be encroaching these seasons before we finish, pushing the project's completion back even further.

So that's where we're at.  Pending finalization of the budget, we should be starting any day now.

Postscript - If anyone knows how Madonna manages to pop out $15 million schools in Malawi so effortlessly please let me know.