FUTURE SCIENTISTS OF TANZANIA

Students and teachers moved into the three new science buildings created by Africa Schoolhouse at Milembe School in early December. It seems like only yesterday that we were on site near Misungwi, Tanzania watching the crews pour the foundations, making adjustments to the cement block walls and cheering as the first roof truss settled in place.

Girls and boys perched on the stone walls, settled onto the curved entrance stairs and gathered on the paved terrace between the three structures, which looks back to the existing classroom buildings and the future academic quadrangle.

Male students helped to install the water storage tank outside the Physics Lab, part of the rainwater harvesting system. A separate tank feeds water into the Chemistry and future Biology Labs.

Inside the Chemistry Lab, water and gas piping is connected to the concrete lab benches, fed by the large rainwater cistern outside. These basic utilities are rarely found in rural schools like this.

The future Physics and Biology labs are currently serving as classrooms, supplmenting the four existing classrooms, which serve 300 students in Forms I through IV (the equivalent of U.S. grades 8-11). The fiberglass window louvers--designed in Portland, Maine and built in the workshops at the Bujora Museum--bring light and ventilation into the classrooms. Supplemental light comes from clerestory windows between the masonry walls and roof trusses, as well as a shaded laylight over the teacher’s desks.

Composting latrines provide healthy, sustainable sanitation for the school.

Fundraising is underway for the next phase of Milembe School, which will include the first girls dormitories as well as Teacher Housing and an Administration/Dining structure. For more details—and to contribute—go to the Africa Schoolhouse website at:

http://www.africaschoolhouse.org/our-current-project-milembe-girls-school/