The village Balaguina lies on the Pinari plateau, about 40 kilometers south east of Mopti and 500 kilometers from Bamako, the capital. The school is situated along the road to Nando and other surrounding villages. The location was carefully chosen together with the inhabitants of the village.By placing the school outside of the village Balaguina, on the road to surrounding villages, the school “belongs” to all of them. The project is an ensemble of the school building, houses for teachers, sanitation blocks, a well and communal outdoor space. The terrain will be enclosed by Jatropha plants to offer some protection against animals. The oil from the plants is also used for making biodiesel fuel. The school needs to meet the requirements prescribed by the government and the CAP (Centre d’Animation Pédagogique). Schools usually consist of clusters of three classrooms. Classrooms should be 7 x 9 meters and serve about 60 pupils. The school in Balaguina is built in two phases, to be able to cope with the growing number of pupils. The first phase consists of a school building of three classrooms with veranda’s on both sides. The second phase comprises another building of three classrooms, placed closer to the road. In between these buildings arises a schoolyard with trees to provide shadow. The architecture of the school and the houses for teachers has a close connection with the local building and housing traditions. The use of locally compressed earth blocks results in a fluent integration with the surroundings, like almost all Dogon villages which merge into the landscape. The formal language is a clear result of functional requirements. The structure of the school is unique with two veranda’s along the classrooms. Both veranda’s function as buttresses to catch the load of the barrel vault roof of the classrooms. Besides this, the veranda’s offer comfortable outside space for the pupils. The veranda’s are brick-laid in alternating stapled blocks with ribs which determine the rhythm in the façade. In the passages, the blocks follow the pressure arch and this way form the characteristic openings. 12^th The roof and the eaves are accentuated by extra stone layers and dilatation stones which divide the arches. The roof of compressed earth blocks is smeared with a 20-30mm thick layer of red earth mixed with cement to achieve a waterproof layer. Handmade ceramic gargoyles abduct the rainwater quickly. These gargoyles, made by the Bozo people, are also applied in the roof for ventilation and daylight. In the Dogon region different types of building methods and materials are applied , depending on the exact location. Clay is the most common building material, as various types of clay can be found throughout the whole Dogon region. In Balaguina, clay was the most obvious choice too. It is very important to build with locally available materials as much as possible. This is economically more interesting than importing materials, a sustainable solution and easily workable. The complete building; the bearing walls, the curved roof and the floors are realized with hydraulically compressed earth blocks. The earth block pressing machine is mobile, so the blocks could be made on the construction site and jointed by an earth mortar. The blocks weigh 8,5 kilo each and can bear a pressure of 15 N/mm2.  About 3-4% cement is added to the blocks to make the blocks waterproof. The foundation are made of poured concrete. Download here the project presentation of the Primary School in Balaguina.

Nombori is a splendid village lying tightly against the rockface. The village has a small cultural center. In the past, it was very much beloved by tourists. The most beautiful part of the village situated close to the cliff, unfortunately fell a bit into disrepair and most houses have been abandoned. Most people are now living somewhat further at the foot of the slope. Nombori is very hard to reach by the enclosure of big sand hills and by bodies of water along the rockface. People walk up and down with donkey carts to the fields. In the neighborhood of the village only very limited agriculture is possible, since most fertile soils have disappeared under the drifting sand.

The school in Nombori has been realized in collaboration with the foundation Dogon Bloemendaal. It was the wish of the community, where already for a much longer time a good primary school with 6 grades was situated, to embark also on the organization of follow up / second cycle education in the village, i.e. grades 7, 8 and 9. Originally the school would be made of hacked stones, but in consultation with the village, eventually the choice fell on a model made of concrete stones. The difficult supply of material led to a longer realization period than thought before, but the building being finished now, it is already well used. In the initial period, a director, a teacher and a trainee are available to teach the almost 90 students.

The village of Soban, situated in the plain at 15 kilometers from Koundou, had already a classroom and a nice house for the director. It was financed through the Foundation of Air France pilots. Here the children of the first three grades (6 – 8 years old) got their education, the older children go to school in Koundou. The village is growing and so does the number of children. The very enthusiastic and inspiring director ran firmly after everyone, and that’s why the French pilots were prepared to finance yet another two classrooms. We have argued in favor of the simultaneous extension of this school with two teacher’s houses, as the housing of new teachers came out to be more and more problematic in the planning stage in 2010.

These teacher’s houses have been built on to both head sides of the small school. The school is already in use since October 2012, but the inauguration had been postponed. Unfortunately the French didn’t dare to show up any more. That’s why SDO did the honors in a very modest role. During the opening, the students demonstrated very many activities, which also immediately reflects the strength of the director. It made me very optimistic about this school. Also the presence of many representatives and the extension with effectively 2 teachers completed this impression. These occasions offer also very good opportunities to SDO to reinforce afterwards the contacts with the many local authorities and to explore the future collaboration.
In short: feast and work!

The village Amani is located at the foot of the cliff. It was in this village where SDO realized its first school. Joop always used to take footballs to the Dogon schools during his research. In 1994 the village elder had a request for him: “You’re a professor, please give them a school instead of footballs … When Joop and Gonny celebrated their 60th birthday in 1994, they felt it was a nice opportunity to realize this requested school.

In 1995 the first school had its festive opening. The school is constructed from the traditional construction material banco. The ‘brickwork’ walls made of dried mud bricks were plastered with mud. The school consists of three classrooms interconnected by a porch. The roof of the porch is made of millet stalks and the roof of the classrooms is made of corrugated iron sheets. In the corner an office for the director was realized.

Apart from constructing the school, school furniture, educational material and uniforms were also provided. On the school grounds a well, sanitary facilities and housing for two teachers were realized as well. The houses are fitted with showers and toilets.

In 2002 a second block with three classrooms was constructed due to the increased amount of pupils. This block was placed at an angle from the first one, which allows the two buildings to create a natural school yard. This second block was constructed from plastered concrete blocks and was painted afterwards. In 2007 the first school received its first real renovation after 13 years. The wooden roof beams were replaced with steels ones, the corrugated iron sheets were replaced and the walls were repaired.

Banani is situated at the foot of a cliff, right where the main route from the plateau arrives from Sangha. In the past Americans had started building a school, but due to a lack of funding the work was suspended in an early stage. The money all went into a costy foundation solution, which incorporated a lot of bricks and cement. Some of higher parts of the walls have awaited further action for years. After the school in Yanda was ready, which was also realized by Banani craftsmen, SDO has taken the further realization of the unfinished school upon itself. The school, two blocks of three classrooms, is located on the slope of the cliff, in order to spare valuable agricultural land. In 2007 the work was started which was finished within two construction seasons. The school was furnished and completed as per usual. The old school where lessons were taught until 2007 is still a silent witness next to the new school. This demonstrates once more how the local community is the biggest influence on the decision of where to build the school. It is clear in any case that they do not, or not yet, see a school as a building within the village.

Bore is situated in the plains and is a relatively recent village. It belongs to the community of Koundou. Many of the families of the rockface came to this village in order to commit agriculture. Meanwhile, waterwells have been made and the population increases rapidly here.

The school at Bore classifies in the series of school buildings of Ghama and of Soban. They belong to the first schools where we created only 3 classes, and where, at the same time, we committed ourselves to the construction of housing for teaching staff. Initially many children walked to the rockface (some 11 kilometers!), or they didn’t attend school at all. The start-up of the schools here is a further extension of our activities in the plains. In the future, this might ask for somewhat different buildings. Anyhow, it is clear that they will not be positioned any more in the somewhat more sensitive Unesco area along the rockface.

The school with its compressed earth stones blends magnificently with the surroundings. The winds here blows far more, and that’s the reason why we decided in first instance to not making the windows opening and to apply only blinds. Now, and meanwhile four years later we did observe that really very little maintenance is needed to façades, windows and doors. In the meantime we went further on thinking about the architecture, the schoolterrain, the matching with the landscape, more ventilation and other roof-shapes (have a look, for example, at Balaguina or at Gangaroubouro).

In 2010 the organization made plans for another three schools. Building schools with three lassrooms in poor villages on the plains is much easier now due to better agreements with the CAP. Today, construction of the schools is not initiated until the number of teachers is clear, and the school fits within the policy of the Malian government. The government is getting more and more involved with the Dogon area. And the decision SDO made, supported by the government, to start building schools with three classrooms in which each two grades are housed, seems to be a success.

Building with the compressed earth bricks produced in Sevaré has the disadvantage that the collaboration with the local community is harder to start. The schools are however significantly cheaper to construct and will most definitely be easier to maintain. For the schools in Boré and Balaguina, to be constructed in 2011, the decision was made to produce the bricks locally. This will be cheaper and also will offer more opportunities for the local community to contribute in the production of the compressed earth bricks.

The village of Kani Gougona is situated on the rock plateau 60 km north east of Sangha.

In 2002 the first phase was realized with a three classroom school. The classrooms were intended for education of the 2nd cycle pupils. The basic education in Mali knows two phases; group 1-6 for all children and to prepare for secondary education there are the consecutive groups 7-9. The building is constructed using concrete blocks and subsequently plastered. The buildings have blue painted windows and doors which is characteristic to the schools Joop designs. On the front side a gallery offers shade. In the back wide concrete awnings were created over the windows which both function as sun shades and as lintels.

In 2003 the 2nd phase of the school was completed. This building stand opposed to the first building, which created a beautiful school yard. Houses for the teachers were also realized for this school.

The village Kani Kombolé is one of the villages which got heavily damaged by the actions of El Hadj Omar Tall. Luckily a few old characteristic buildings were spared. Typical for the location is the dark color of the steep cliff.

In 2003 the construction of two blocks with each two classrooms was started. The two classroom blocks shape the school yard. Toward the cliff latrines and two houses for teachers were created. Typifying is that both houses also have a round shaped kitchen. The schools were fitted with a shadowy gallery, shades at the backside and ventilation openings. They were painted in a mud color with blue window and door frames. Compared to the other schools the gallery of the school in Kani Kombolé is partly closed off.

The school in the village Koulou near Ségué is the third in the new series. By building the schools with the same team the quality is noticeably higher. This can be even traced back to the finishing details, small improvements are implemented, such as the eaves and the way the roofing plates are anchored. In addition to building with the new compressed earth bricks this school was the first to be constructed with the new type of windows. The windows used previously were vulnerable during strong winds and allowed a lot of dust and sand to enter the classrooms. The new windows have been fitted with panes which can be closed. This is a big improvement regarding the frequent sandstorms.

In the Koundou villages SDO has realized two wells, one in Koundou Ginna and one at the school The location of the school is between the two villages in the Koundou community. Through the years a range of educational supportive facilities have been realized. The first phase, from 2002, is a school with four classrooms. The four classrooms are housed in two buildings, placed opposite of one another. After the realization of the first phase the other facilities were made, under the housing for teachers and the latrines. A few lovely guest houses were created for the pupils that traveled far from the Koundou villages (under which Soban, Da, Guiguinou, Goumo) situated on the plains. In 2005 the school was expanded with two classrooms. A new classroom had to be built on both buildings. These extra classrooms were intended for the second cycle. Unfortunately, getting quality teachers was very difficult on this location. There were 360 pupils, and only two teachers. For this reason more explicit agreements with the local government and community about the expansion of the school buildings with extra classrooms is necessary. The housing of the teachers will play a more important role. The guest houses were not a success and are only used for a short period of time because organizing the food in the morning and evening prove to be too stressful for the Koundou population.

In the Bankas region you can find the village Kouroundé, which has a beautiful mosque in traditional style. In 1999 during a feastof the forge the elders came with a request to build a school in the plot across from the mosque. That was to be the second school designed by Joop. The fact that realizing a school can happen lightening fast is proven with the construction of this one. After a week the plans and agreements with the contractor Amatigue Dara, the smit and the furniture manufacturer were all fixed. Exactly a week after the first meeting the first thousand mud bricks were already manufactured thanks to the large contribution of the Kouroundé community. This impressive feat shows that there is more than enough faith in the value and meaning of education.

The first phase of the school consists of a building with two classrooms without a porch. In 2001 a second block with two classrooms was built, at an angle with the first one, which created a natural school yard between the two. In October guest houses were realized for the pupils that had to travel from far a way to get to school. In 2003 the decision was made to expand both blocks with one more classroom, and the first block was fitted with a porch. The Dogon Bloemendaal Foundation raised funds which allowed for the second phase of constructing three extra classrooms in Kouroundé.

In the Madougou region two schools were built in 2010: one block of three classrooms both in Ouroukamba and in Ghama. The school in Ouroukamba is made of concrete blocks and then plastered. The school is situated on a plain, against a sand dune, and offers space out front for the pupils to play on. In line with the classrooms a latrine is built, which is also constructed with plastered concrete blocks.

The village of Pah is located in the Pinari. It’s of modest size and has always been situated on a rock plateau, only accessible via a steep, narrow cleft. This made the village easily defensible in the past. Downside to this isolated and high location is the low amount of water available. When many of the houses were damaged due to heavy rains in 2002 many villagers decided to leave the old village and build new houses on a lower situated terrain.

It was there SDO realized a school building with three classrooms in that same year. The school was constructed using carved stone blocks, which was in line with the constructional tradition in the Pinari. The blocks were quarried from the open quarry in the near vicinity of the school. They have been meticulously carved to the right size by craftsmen, and were used to construct beautiful walls and elegant arches for the gallery. Next to the school a well and latrines were realized. In Mali the school year starts in October. Luckily the school was done in time, so it opened in 2002.

Sangha is regarded the cultural ‘capital’ of the Dogon. Sangha consists of thirteen quartes, like Ogol Leh and Ogol Dah. In total the Sangha agglomeration has about 25.000 inhabitants. Sangha fulfills a regional function and has multiple elementary schools suitable for the 1st and 2nd phases. The first school in Sangha dates back to 1910 and was founded during the French colonial era. The building had largely fallen into disuse. The roof had caved in and the main beam layer had already been partly replaced by steel beams. SDO has convinced the locals of the importance to start using the school once more. The school had to be fully renovated however, in order to be preserve the historical building for the future. The project was not always easy, because in order to construct the heavy mud walls a mason had to be invited from Djenné. And the original wood, palm wood, with which the roof construction was made, had to come from far away because it could no longer be found in the Sangha region. The renovation was realized in an entirely traditional construction style. The walls were repaired where necessary, with the same mud blocks as before. The roof has been fully sloped with mud layers on top of the new wooden roof construction. It was decided to keep the original steel beams. They are part of the history of the school and tell the tale of earlier renovations. The windows and doors were fitted with new steel frames with wooden shutters and doors like before. The classrooms were painted brown on the inside. The floors were renewed. After the completion in 2005 the school looked brand new, and fit to face the next century. Especially the incredibly cool inside climate makes this school very popular building among the teachers and pupils. The quality of building with mud has convinced the inhabitants and local government of Sangha that mud has the future. Unintentionally the renovation of this school has contributed to the fact that building with compressed earth bricks is more easily accepted than a “modern” way of constructing the new schools. The school was fitted with new school furniture upon completion. In 2010 the hundredth anniversary of the first school in the Dogon area was celebrated in abundance. For the occasion a special fabric was printed with the logo of the school. The school is now mostly used as a “Jardin des enfants”, a type of daycare, thanks to its friendly character and cool climate.