In the village Sogoudourkoum the first phase of a school with three classrooms was realized in 2002.The complete school consists of two blocks with three classrooms each, opposite of each other. The school yard lays between those blocks. On the school yard a so called ‘toguna’ has been placed;a roofed hangar in which the pupils can enjoy their lunch in the shade.

The construction work was carried out carefully around the breathtaking Baobab trees. These elements have ensured an extra beautiful anchoring of the school on this location. The classrooms are fitted with a porch, as with all the schools, and also with finely shaped gates and a recognizable pattern of ventilation openings high up in the classrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The village of Timissa is situated South-West of the Unesco world heritage area, on top of the highland plateau. This isolated region is influenced by Islam more than any other Dogon-territory and is characterized by the beautiful traditional mosques.

The FDE has realized several projects here, including the renovation of an existing school building, the construction of a new school building, as well as building the necessary teachers’ accommodations and bathrooms. Building this school was made possible by Stichting Bloemendaal Dogon’s financial aid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Joop visited Timissa in March 2004, construction was already in progress. For the renovation of the existing school building, new windows and doors were being installed, new plastering was applied and the roof was being renewed. Additionally, the generator was repaired and some of the mended windows and doors were supplied with a fresh layer of paint. The development of the new building was also on its way: the bricklaying had reached an advanced stage, and steel beams, roofing plates, windows and doors had arrived on site. The new building was finished in June while the renovation lasted a bit longer. After its completion, the school became home to 500 pupils.

In 2009 a new block with three classrooms was realized in Timissa, executed with the new compressed earth bricks. This school was built as a project together with the schools in Koulou and Yele. Innovative about the new block was that the walls were constituted of two-sided, clean brickwork, which meant that the school did not have to be plastered and painted. Furthermore, the building forms unity with the houses and surrounding landscape due to the color and shape of the bricks. Other notable features are the supporting beams, the concrete headings on the walls, the triangular arcade gates and the new lockable windows.

At the village of Yanda two blocks with three classrooms each were realized near the old mud school. Unlike the traditional construction method of the old mud school the new school was built using carved natural stone quarried locally. In order to quarry and carve the stones the inhabitants of Yanda participated fully.

The construction of the school was initiated in the beginning of 2004, and by March that year the walls of the First block were already established, and the foundation of the second building was just started. The roofs of the school are made with 7 meter long aluminum roofing sheets which were transported from the Netherlands by SDO. They arrived before the rain season started in Yanda so the schools were waterproofed in time.

In March 2005 a festive inauguration took place. The villagers, pupils and teachers were all present, and a traditional mask dance was performed.

In addition to building the school, houses for teachers as well as latrines and a new well were realized. In a village nearby Yanda SDO had already realized a well in collaboration with the community. It was then that it became clear that active involvement and collaboration with the realization of the new school could be expected from the community.

Yélé is an isolated village in the west of Mali, near the border of Burkina Faso. In this area many Dogon have converted to the Islam, and this is evident from the many beautiful traditional mosques. The school of compressed earth bricks is the second of a new series. The school has the same lay out as the school in Timissa; three classrooms with a gallery of arches and the familiar ventilation openings. Yet the finishing details are a little different. At the teacher houses in Sevaré the experiments with compressed earth brick flooring was a success. This is why the school in Yélé is fitted with such a floor as well. A lot of expensive cement can be saved using this method. If you want to build with compressed earth bricks you need a location easily reached by truck, so the stones produced in Sevaré can be delivered to the site.