Project 1

We - sixteen volunteers, six malgache guides, and numerous helpful villagers - managed to build a school in the village of Tsiroa in just over two weeks.

Tasks involved sawing and chiseling each beam so they were the right length and slotted together. Then we cleared the school site (dug up all the grass), and dug holes where each beam was to go. Next the beams went in. We then laid rocks and cemented the floor. (All the cement was mixed by hand - hard work!) The walls were planked, the roof was nailed on, the doors and windows painted and put into place.

The volunteers from the next pioneer scheme will paint the roof red and the walls white, so the school will be the three colours of the malgache flag.

The local education authorities have already found a teacher for the school, and are also going to train two adults from the village of Tsiroa who will be paid a wage to give weekly adult literacy classes to the other villagers. Around 200 children will be taught at the school, some in the morning, some in the afternoon. Teaching will start here in September 2007, in the meantime the children of Tsiroa are continuing to go to school in a nearby village.

Making the frame - chiseling pegs and holes...

The frame, ready to go up.

The frame is up!

Laying the floor...

Cementing the floor and planking the walls...

Village children in front of the finished school at the inaugeration.

Help build a school like this in Madagascar - please click here!

Project 2 >>

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About Azafady »

Azafady is a registered UK charity and Malagasy NGO, which works in southeast Madagascar with local communities on nature conservation, health and education.

About Madagascar »

Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island. It has an absolutely staggering diversity of plant and animal species, 80% of which are found nowhere else on the planet. However, while one of the biologically richest places on Earth; it is also one of the world’s poorest countries. The country typically spends as much on debt repayments each year as it does on health and education combined.