Sanitation Project update, Zambia
May 15, 2012Preparations are going well at the four schools involved in the 2012 Latrines Project.
African Revival staff already made several visits to Bowwood Community, Inkumbi Basic, Kinnertone Community and Lubombo Basic schools to check on the progress being made by the communities in bringing raw building materials such as hand-made bricks, pit and river sand, crushed stones and water to the sites. We have also been monitoring the digging of the latrine pits, a task that has been made easier by the timing of this project, which coincides with the end of the rainy season when the ground is softer and easier to excavate. This can bring with it, however, other problems, such as water-logged soils.
It is likely that work will begin first at Lubombo Basic School, where the pits are already complete and the community has been diligent and responsive in brining the necessary building materials.
Bowwood and Kinnertone Community Schools are the smallest schools in this project and therefore the communities here can sometimes struggle to respond quickly to requests for local labour and inputs. Nevertheless, African Revival is working together with these schools and their communities to ensure that everything is done to facilitate a timely start and completion of the works scheduled there. Construction was scheduled to begin however delays in the funds reaching the African Revival account in Zambia have meant this has been put back to mid-May. This is also allowing some schools a little extra time to prepare the materials and pits that must be in place before building contractors arrive at the site.
