Opportunity For All

Chivundula was founded in 1957 by Traditional Authority Chilowamatambe and was later handed over to Sub Group Village Head Chivundula. There are approximately 2,370 people living in this community today, most of them belonging to the Chewa ethnic group. The majority also practice some form of Christianity. Chivundula is 40 km from the buildOn office in Kasungu. The closest medical clinic is 9 km away. The Bua River, which empties into Lake Malawi, flows nearby. The entire community shares just one deep well, called a bore hole in Malawi. Agriculture is the primary income generating activity here, and the staple crops are maize, groundnuts and tobacco.
The climate in Chivundula is typical of the savannah in Malawi’s central region, with a warm dry season from August to November and a cooler rainy season from December to April. In July, days are hot and nights are cold.

Mitula Primary School - There are currently 647 students (332 girls and 315 boys) enrolled in Mitula Primary School in Chivundula. They study with 5 Ministry of Education teachers in grades 1 through 8.
Formal education has been available in Chivundula since 1986, but the current enrollment far exceeds what the infrastructure in the village can accommodate. There were no permanent classrooms prior to this project, and the existing school structures are in a dilapidated state because they were not built to last. Mitula is a full primary school, so students from Chivundula don’t have to walk to another village to complete their primary level education.

The Chivundula school project broke ground on July 30th 2012 and was completed on September 7th 2012. The people of Chivundula contributed a total of 4,081 volunteer workdays to the project, which was completed 26 days ahead of schedule. The buildOn school block in Chivundula has 2 classrooms with a corrugated metal roof and a poured concrete floor. It was built with more than 50,000 fired clay bricks molded by members of the community! Students began using the new school on September 10th, 2012:. Before beginning construction the community members also collected local materials for the project, molded and fired thousands of clay bricks, and met with buildOn staff to sign a covenant outlining the following responsibilities:

Community Contribution
• Unskilled labor: 30 workers (15 women and 15 men) per day, six days per week
• Commitment to educating girls and boys equally
• The land on which the school is built
• High quality local materials: sand, gravel, water & rocks
• Volunteer management committee made up of 12 villagers (six women, six men)
• Lodging for buildOn Field Coordinator and skilled laborers in local houses
• Basic construction tools (picks, buckets, etc.) when available

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