Previously, the Shine Reading Academy programme was based in a small rented house in the community where we converted bedrooms into classrooms. We ran the school from the house for 3 years. However, in 2009 we constructed our own school building in Kalikiliki township using money raised by many UK-based fundraising events over a 2 year period.
Every one of the 40,000 bricks used to construct the school was made manually with cement and water moulded in a manual block-making machine. It cost Shine 20 pence to make each brick. This was all done without electricity or running water at the site – just the hard work of local people building a school for their children.
The construction project brought significant investment into a very poor community and provided paid employment for many people – builders, carpenters, plumbers, welders, bricklayers, general labourers and also cooks to prepare lunch for the workers. All construction materials used were bought locally in Zambia.
Phases 1 and 2 complete… Phase 3 to come in 2012!
