(Letter to Rev. Keith Cox from Marc Friedman of buildOn – September 2009)

Keith,
Here's a quick update on the school in Kanyengerera.  As you may have heard, when we first visited this school, we found hundreds of students having classes in a very old and dilapidated structure.

We broke ground on the new school on June 18th, and the school was completed on August 8th.  That's about 2 weeks ahead of a 10 week build schedule!  The community contributed 3,403 volunteer workdays (252% of our standard), which was a main reason the school was completed so quickly.  The community had the best volunteer participation of all the schools that we've built this year.  James, the rest of our Malawi staff, and the village Project Leadership Committee also site the tremendous energy and commitment of the ICSL Team as an inspiring factor in the community's volunteer contribution!!!

There are currently about 437 students in Kanyengera who attend the school (217 boys and 220 girls), and there are five teachers who teach grades 1-8, making it a complete primary school.  Starting in January 2010, we'll be looking at how these and other indicators have changed following the school construction, and we will be implementing the Community Education Program in the community.

Thanks again to you and the ICSL team for all of their hard work!!!

Best,
Marc

Marc Friedman
Chief Operating Officer
buildOn