Follow the El Shaddai Rural Trade School at http://swazischool.wordpress.com/
Client: The El Shaddai Mission Community consisting of about 40+ families as well as the
100+ children of the orphanage
Project Background: Most children in the area go to the El Shaddai Mission Public School for free and are unable to afford High School. Life Corps International are building a Trade School so that the Teens/Young Adults of the 40 plus families in the area will have marketable skills and will be able to secure gainful employment. The Trade School will also help the Orphans of the El Shaddai Children’s Home (92 Children 0-18 years of age) who are not sponsored to continue their education. The trade school is to be built on the property next to El Shaddai public school, which will also be run by the El Shaddai mission. A masonry company from Toronto Area has partnered with Life Corps for this project and is sending it’s workers for three weeks in late January / early February. They have a material budget of $10,000 Cnd. They also have access to an online catalogue of courses and donation of laptops so will need power and Internet connection.
Over the past 15 years, Life corps has helped build up this small rural community, including the orphanage, the teacher / staff dormitories and have used building materials that have been readily available to them – which has been: concrete block and galvanized metal roof with wood trusses. Glass windows (1m x 1m) and local bricks also available. They are not opposed to other building methods.
Site: Rural mountains of Swaziland at the El Shaddai Mission. Approx. 39 X 21m, give or take a few meters, with a 2m grade difference from corner to corner (photos of site to follow)
Project Requirements:
Phase I
• 3 classrooms – 9m x 6m each (baking, sewing, admin, and pastoral study classes) classrooms to have possible storefronts so that students can sell their baked goods and clothing (currently students must pay to travel to town to buy uniforms)
• 1 office (for storage and 2 people to work)
• 2 bathrooms
security is a huge issue – they want outer walls to act as a secure barrier and an inner courtyard; outer walls can have windows high up on the wall and would need a main gate , big enough for vehicles to back in for deliveries
Phase II
• 4 more classrooms – 9m x 6m each (plumbing, electrical and mechanical classes)
• possibly more staff housing
