The dorm is DONE!

At a lively dedication ceremony on April 2nd, 2008, the Nakpanduri Business Secondary School Girls' Dormitory was officially opened. After an opening prayer from the Nakpanduri Imam, speeches from NABSS Headmaster Duut Peter Jatuat, the Presiding Member of the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District Assembly, Peace Corps Ghana Country Director Bob Golledge, and remarks from me (some in Moar - the local language), the dormitory was commissioned and the program closed with a prayer from Nakpanduri Assemblies of God Paster Thomas Lambon. The program also included two cultural drumming and dancing performances by the NABSS Cultural Troupe.

For the school and for the whole of Nakpanduri, the completion of this dorm represents a a great achievement in community cooperation. The community of donors were also a crucial part of this cooperative achievement. To all of you who supported me and this project - you have really done a great thing to help Nakpanduri and you have built a lasting connection to that community. Nakpanduri and I will forever be grateful to you for your contributions.

For the girls of NABSS, this dormitory represents an opportunity. It's a drastic improvement to their living situation and to their educational possibilities. For some of them, it might alleviate one of the key conditions keeping them trapped in the cycle of poverty. For them it really means that much. They are very grateful.

I am also very grateful to have had the opportunity to be the conduit for this cooperation between two communities for which I care deeply. I am grateful for my whole Peace Corps experience in Nakpanduri, for all the friends I've gained and the lessons I've learned. The completion of the girls' dormitory was a wonderful capstone to that experience.

A million thanks to all those who made it possible. God bless you all!

Carl

The Home Stretch...

Greetings once again everyone!

As of March 20th, all the "plastering" is finished (this is the concrete work on top of the block work that makes everything smooth and nice - there's no dry walling...), the wooden ceilings have been constructed, and all electrical work is laid and ready to be connected. I left Nakpanduri with my headmaster, headed for Tamale for one last shopping trip. We bought "burglar proof" mesh and screens for the windows, paint, and door hardware - spending the LAST of my PCPP money! While I had hoped the flooring would be done and the windows installed - Mr. Jatuat assured me that this was to be done within two days of my returning to Tamale (presumably...it's done by now). The next pictures I send will be of the COMPLETED dormitory, with ASSEMBLED bunkbeds and HAPPY students! The program on April 2nd should be very interesting. The Peace Corps Ghana Country Director, Bob Golledge, is making the long trek from Accra to attend - and I'm giving a speech...partially in the local language! I'll try to get a picture of the astounded faces as I speak...

I'm astounded by your generosity and support. Thanks for making my last few months such a success!

Carl

"UNICEF Blue" nets smell funny...

Hey everybody -

Here are two of the Tamale Sub-Office guards modeling the NABSS girls' dormitory bunk beds complete with treated blue UNICEF bed nets! (The mattresses are not included sadly...) The bed nets DO smell a little funny, but that's because they're fancy and treated with insecticide. Supposedly, the net is designed with bigger holes than conventional nets to let more air flow, but the mosquitos still can't pass through them - AND the chemical is supposed to be effective for 5 years! As a last bonus, the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service gave me the bargain price of 1.00 Ghana cedi per net - even less than their usual subsidized selling price of 2.00 Ghana cedis - so I went ahead and bought 100 nets! Little by little my to-do list is shrinking...

Carl

One month to go...

We're a little bit behind schedule all of a sudden, but after my last visit, I'm 100% confident we'll be done by the end of March. Why am I so sure? The headmaster told me that one reason the roofing was delayed was that the workers were engaged in other projects in town and he had a hard time sometimes getting them to focus on our project. My solution: the same thing that generally works on me - food. I gave the headmaster enough money to feed all the workers extra well everyday from now until the end of the month and threw in a decent monetary bonus if we can make the deadline(up until now the unskilled labor has been either totally voluntary - school staff members - or the very low paid help of the skilled mason and carpenter. I was able to do this because we're anticipating coming out a little bit UNDER budget - even after adding the electrical work on the dorm!) The mason and carpenter assured me that they would stay with the dormitory project until it's totally finished. I also scheduled another quick trip in two weeks. I've asked them to have everything done at that point besides the painting. This thing's gonna get done - and I'll have the pictures to prove it!!!

Carl

PS - Check out that ginormous cell phone tower with the mud hut in the foreground!

Ready to roof!

As I walked up to the school's administration block, the mason and the team of communal laborers were laying the blocks on the two end gables, the last bit of blockwork to be completed before roofing could begin. Just two days before, the truckload of wood from Techiman - a large market town in central Ghana - had arrived at N.A.B.S.S. We're ready to roof this thing! The next time I get up to Nakpanduri the first week in March, the roofing, celing, plastering, and flooring will all be completed. All the materials are there, the workers have been paid - there's no reason this shouldn't happen. The headmaster and I will then go to Tamale together and buy EVERYTHING that's needed to complete the dorm - paint, window screens and burglar proofing, the doors and locks, and electrical wiring.
My last visit to Nakpanduri will be the 29th of March. Invitations will go out shortly for the commisioning ceremony to be held on that date...

YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!!

Bunkbeds in progress...

Happy February everybody -

It's almost been another month since my last update - and for that, I apologize. Rest assured, the project is still moving along extremely well. Reports from my headmaster are that they have started roofing! He has been down to see me in Tamale every two weeks or so and we've purchased the remainder of the lumber for the project and the window glass and frames. There's no way for me to get digital pictures of the current progress unless I go up there myself - and I've been swamped at the Peace Corps office pretty much since New Years. We are still in the middle of the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, which has been very exciting for Tamale - the Chinese built us a brand new stadium! I went to two games and brought along my friend Jerry from Nakpanduri and his son Maxwell. It was an incredible experience for them. I hope to go up to Nakpanduri within the next two weeks and post more pictures.

In the meantime, I've commissioned a guy in Tamale to build the bunkbeds with the extra $4,000 my mother raised through more of your generous contributions. At 90.00 Ghana cedis each ($1 ~= 0.95 GH cedis), I will be able to build all of the 40 beds the dorm will be able to hold and have a little left over. I'm still looking around for a source of subsidized or free mosquito nets - as I might have to use that left over money just to transport the beds up to Nakpanduri from Tamale. The beds are solid. They're made from custom welded iron, four massive bolts will hold them together and enable easy assembly in Nakpanduri, and a carpenter will build cross-boards. These will rival the nicest bunkbeds I've seen at ANY school in all of Ghana. Pretty nice for little Nakpanduri. Here's a picture of them under construction and lined up along the road. More to come soon!

Carl

Progress - small small...

The project is moving along - as we say in Ghana: small small. Slowly but surely we are moving. As you can see from the above pictures, the school finished the foundation. Then, once I had the cash in hand we started building up from there. At the moment, the walls are built up to the window level. I spent about $2,500 on ALL the cement for the project (which we needed to buy now as prices tend to rise pretty rapidly in such commodities) and another $2,100 on iron rods and the roofing sheets. What is happening is that the headmaster comes down to Tamale to meet me, we buy the necessary materials, he sends them up and gets to work, then I come up and check on things when I'm able. I was just up there for Christmas and took the pictures you see above and to the right. At this pace, I hope we can be finished by the end of February! Expect another update in a week or two!

Carl