Mbweya School Project Completed on October 6, 2011!
The new school - outside!
The new school - inside!
This project has two classrooms with a corrugated metal roof and a poured concrete floor. Two latrines were also constructed next to the school. Students began attending classes in this new block in November 2011.
Our community looks a lot more beautiful than before...I know enrollment will be higher in the future because a lot of kids will flock to this school.
Senior Group Village Headman Bweya
Mbweya people are hard workers and development minded- while they were working on this block they were already molding bricks for the next project!
Maurice Muchene, buildOn Country Director, Malawi
Thank you very much for the great things you are doing in our community. We are prepared to build a third block, and have already collected all the local materials needed. We hope you will come again!
Mr. Kanthanthiko, community member
The Mbweya School Project
Mbweya is part of Kasungu district, in the central region of Malawi, and was founded in the 1930s by Senior Chief Bweya the first. The current population of Mbweya is 2, 839 people belonging to 291 different families. Most of these people are part of the Chewa ethnic group, and most also identify themselves as Christians (Presbyterian, Roman Catholic or Pentecostal). Mbweya is 25 km from the buildOn office in Kasungu.
The primary sources of income for the people of Mbweya are agriculture and small livestock keeping. The main crops grown in Mbweya are tobacco, maize, groundnuts (peanuts), cassava and sweet potatoes. Some families raise goats, cattle, sheep or pigs. A few also run small businesses, selling food items that can’t be grown in the area or used clothing, or offering services like butchery. The climate is tropical, with a rainy and a dry season each year. The Kasikidzi River supplies the area with water.
The primary sources of income for the people of Mbweya are agriculture and small livestock keeping. The main crops grown in Mbweya are tobacco, maize, groundnuts (peanuts), cassava and sweet potatoes. Some families raise goats, cattle, sheep or pigs. A few also run small businesses, selling food items that can’t be grown in the area or used clothing, or offering services like butchery. The climate is tropical, with a rainy and a dry season each year. The Kasikidzi River supplies the area with water.
Site for the New School Block
The Existing School Block
Current School Conditions
Chankhalamo School: Formal education has been available in Mbweya since it was founded, but the first permanent school block of Chankhalamo School was not built until 2009- with the support of buildOn. Currently 329 students (178 girls and 151 boys) from Mbweya are enrolled in grades 1 through 5, studying with five teachers.
Since there isn’t room for all of them inside the existing buildOn school block, many students still study outdoors or in temporary shelters. During the rainy season and the hottest part of the dry season, many students drop out of school because of these conditions. Students who want to study past the 5th grade must walk to another community to do so.
Since there isn’t room for all of them inside the existing buildOn school block, many students still study outdoors or in temporary shelters. During the rainy season and the hottest part of the dry season, many students drop out of school because of these conditions. Students who want to study past the 5th grade must walk to another community to do so.
Mbweya Community Profile
Materials for the bricks.
The second buildOn school block of Chankhalamo School will have two classrooms and be constructed out of more than 50,000 clay bricks molded by villagers and fired in a kiln over the course of several months. The finished school will have a corrugated tin roof and a poured concrete floor. This project broke ground in late June and will be completed in the early fall of 2011. Per buildOn methodology, the entire community participated in a covenant signing ceremony before breaking ground on the new school. This covenant outlines the plan for the project and the following duties:
Community Contribution
• Unskilled labor: 30 workers (15 men and 15 women) per day, six days per week
• The land on which the school is built
• High quality local materials: sand, gravel, water & rocks
• Project management: a committee made up of 12 villagers (six men, six women)
• Lodging for buildOn team: Field Coordinator and skilled laborers
• Basic construction tools (shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, buckets, etc.)
• Commitment to educating boys and girls equally
buildOn Contribution
• Architecture and engineering
• Construction materials (excluding local materials) for school and latrine
• Skilled labor and plans needed to build the school
• Project management (buildOn coordinators)
• Instruction in basic construction techniques
Community Contribution
• Unskilled labor: 30 workers (15 men and 15 women) per day, six days per week
• The land on which the school is built
• High quality local materials: sand, gravel, water & rocks
• Project management: a committee made up of 12 villagers (six men, six women)
• Lodging for buildOn team: Field Coordinator and skilled laborers
• Basic construction tools (shovels, picks, wheelbarrows, buckets, etc.)
• Commitment to educating boys and girls equally
buildOn Contribution
• Architecture and engineering
• Construction materials (excluding local materials) for school and latrine
• Skilled labor and plans needed to build the school
• Project management (buildOn coordinators)
• Instruction in basic construction techniques