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