The new rooms, which also incorporate much-needed office space, are being constructed in an innovative design out of ‘carbon neutral’ bricks. The contractors have moved away from the traditional square block build with tin roof to use new technologies to ‘cold  press’ bricks and roof tiles using locally sourced earth mixed with comparatively small amounts of cement. The result is not only much more functional – much cooler with pitched, tiled roofs and environmentally sustainable, they are also much more attractive! 

But this project is not just about new spaces for young people to learn – throughout the construction, sixteen young people from the community have been trained in construction skills; improving their chances of employment and adding to the basic skills core of the fragile community in which they live.

Fantastic news update – as of today (Dec 16th) all the trainees successfully passed their first trade test. This is certainly the first formal qualification they will have achieved. 

The school for orphans at Kawama is vastly oversubscribed – they currently have only two classrooms for nearly 300 children. This means that each age group currently receives only one lesson per day. These new classrooms with the library will enable everyone to attend school full time. 

The basic build is expected to be complete in March 2010 and we've just got hold of a whole bunch of photos of the progress check them out here