The primary school Bombou is located in the village of Bombou in the center of Mali, in the open plain at the Bandiagara Cliff in Dogonland, the area where the Dogon and the Peul live. The school is an ensemble of three classrooms, a sanitary block, an office for the director and the teachers, a storage room and a common outdoor area. The school is intended for children of two different cultures, the Dogon and the Peul. Although they are so close to each other, they are struggling to communicate with each other because of the many language variations and dialects. The new school will connect these two different ethnic groups.
The school is a sustainable building. It consists of three classrooms with a round shape and creates a connection with local building traditions. The use of locally pressed earth blocks ensures a natural integration with the environment, just like all surrounding villages that merge into the landscape. The hydraulically compressed earth blocks (HCEB) are produced with the ground on the site, which greatly reduces production costs and environmental degradation. They are not only sustainable but also much better than traditional clay buildings, resistant to the climate of both the hot sun and the heavy rainfall. The created indoor climate is also considerably cooler, a perfect environment for the children to learn.
In Mali, cooperation with the local community and education authority (CAP, programming and inspection) is needed to build a school. In fact, the village supports not only the construction, but also the children, Dogon and Peul, to go to school together.
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