Preparations for the Dormitory

February 17, 2013 – Written by Eliza Hatch
Frank and Jane, the engineer and the project manager from our contractor’s office flew up to Loliondo for the day on Thursday to visit Soit Sambu Secondary School to lay the groundwork and choose the site for the new girls’ dormitory. The existing girls’ dormitory has 48 beds and houses 160 girls; the new dorm will have an additional 50 beds, easing the crowding of the existing dormitory.

Frank and Jane were extremely thorough in their choice of the site and in scoping out the general area. The headmaster wanted to put the new dorm directly next to the old one, but Jane suggested leaving some space between the two dorms as a play area for the girls or as a potential space to build a reading area in the future. They also noticed a building nearby that had settled and started to crack. I would have assumed the building wasn’t well-constructed, but they immediately asked to see the soil. Apparently when it rains, this particular kind of soil settles, so they have to account for this in the building of the foundation of the dorm. They even took a bag of soil back to Arusha with them. I am impressed by how thorough they are!

We plan to break ground in about three weeks as soon as the bricks are ready and delivered!