Diary: Zinguinchor, 3. February 2015

After the festive ground-breaking ceremony, where we could lay the first brick, we (the Federation Dimbaya and I) began to address the quesitions of what the kindergarten building should look like and also what kind of rooms it should have. We liked the blue prints from a kindergarten building in Dakar right away, that also had three classes.

Grosses Bild, hier klicken >>

The only rooms missing from our point of view, were the kitchen, the dining room and the toilets. We would like to have those rooms integrated into the building. Inspired by the honeycomb shaped buildings, that can be joined together, I decided to try to draw the kindergarten myself. I was thinking of a patio surrounded by the hexagonal buildings. I was very pleased, that all of the involved people liked my sketch so much, so that we could give it to an architect who could draw the blue prints. It made me especially happy, that I could help at this stage, so my personal ideas about how the kindergarten should look, could be realized.

Currently our very competent architect is working on the blue prints. He has lots of experience in this area, because he has already designed and implemented many schools and other rooms for children, including jobs for the "Red Cross". I had the opportuniity to visit an almost finished building, that got constructed under his conduct. That visit convinced me all the way, that he is very responsible and also makes sure, that his builders do quality work.

The expenses for this project comply with our budget. The way everything is coming together, we will soon be able to sign a contract with this building contractor and begin with the actual building by the end of March. Beforehand hundreds of bricks have to get made and dried in the sun, before they can be used as foundations.

Now I will regularly drive my one speed african bicycle from Ziguinchor the the village of Niaguis, that is about 10km away, to witness the building of the kindergarten and enjoy the progress.

Thank you to everyone, who helped this project succeed and to those, who will continue supporting us.

Your Marielle Furter
Head of Projects „kindergartens4senegal"

Note from 22. February
On 7. February the sad news, that my father was doing poorly, reached me. I immediately flew back to Switzerland. Sadly he closed his eyes forever on 9. February. I will now be staying in Switzerland until 26. February and won't be able to dedicate myself to the project in Senegal itself until the 28th.