The laboratory space just will not work. Architects, engineers, and I are brainstorming about how to use space in the wing under construction for laboratories.
We have some years to worry about the space issues of losing these classrooms (the former labs do not make for good classrooms, either). A mess, but a redeemable one.
One of my frustrations is how design and engineering are done here. The idea is that you put up a structure and then decide things (like how a building will be plumbed, etc.). As we move forward, I'll try to encourage a different approach. As assistant principal at St. Ignatius, Cleveland, and principal at U of Detroit Jesuit HS, I was involved in a number of construction problems. We had issues, but they were all taken care of early on in the design phase. I wasn't here for that, but even if I were I would not have noticed a lot of the issues because of the minimal information given in floorplans, etc.
The most frustrating thing is that it is clear that no reference was made to minimum standards for school buildings -- available from the Ministry of Education here (and available in generic form with a quick Google search).
We continue to learn!
I met with some more frustration at the post office today. That caused a bit more frustration. Eddie Siebert kindly sent tons of videos for our use. Educational ones, some for entertaining students on weekends (and helping with English skills as well), and some for the entertainment of the Jesuits. Well...the Tanzania Revenue Authority official opened the boxes (containing, incidentally, precisely what was claimed) and he's assessing us a huge duty -- 60,000 TSH. I'm sending someone else to the post office tomorrow to see if we might not get a better deal.
There are some small, wonderful moments, of course. I stopped by Don Bosco High School this morning to see if we could get faculty members there as correctors for our exams. While there I ran into some parishioners from here -- a delightful moment.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
A Cooler Head
I've calmed down since my earlier post!
I just got back from visiting the site. I am now convinced that we can make the space work. Not ideal but better than the other alternatives. It's a bad design, but we can make the best of it. It was designed to provide an interesting aesthetic detail, but the design does not serve the function of the room (a laboratory). We'll be able to make the space suitable for 35 students, but we won't have much of a presentation area for a teacher. What will need to be redesigned are the design and placement of the lab benches.
I'm glad to be one day away and have the creative eyes of other people look at the space before we take a big leap of moving the labs, etc.
I just got back from visiting the site. I am now convinced that we can make the space work. Not ideal but better than the other alternatives. It's a bad design, but we can make the best of it. It was designed to provide an interesting aesthetic detail, but the design does not serve the function of the room (a laboratory). We'll be able to make the space suitable for 35 students, but we won't have much of a presentation area for a teacher. What will need to be redesigned are the design and placement of the lab benches.
I'm glad to be one day away and have the creative eyes of other people look at the space before we take a big leap of moving the labs, etc.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Why I Don't Sleep These Nights
It isn't often that I express frustration here at CHoP, but the fact of the matter is that these days are frustrating
On Thursday I went through the registry of those who received applications and compared them against those who returned their forms. Many people have not returned them. This makes our job extremely difficulty because we don't know exactly how many rooms to prepare, how many proctors to have on hand (called invigilators here), etc. I have have the help of Christopher, a youth from the parish, who has been a great help making calls, etc. We don't have adequate facilities or quite enough work yet for me to employ a full-time secretary, and he's very thorough and generous. We're figuring out exactly how many people will be here -- but it's meant a lot of phone calls. (I'm glad I asked for a registry of sales).
I left for the OLQP site yesterday at 8:00 a.m. and returned last night at 6:30 p.m. It was a long day. What did I learn? Well one thing is that my constant harping about provisions for water is now finally being heeded. I really had thought that folks were on top of this, that workers would arrive, put tanks on top of the buildings, connect them to pipes from the large tanks at our bore hole, and that we'd be in business. No such luck. More proximate tanks have first to be built near the buildings. Which means that the holes have to be dug, the concrete poured and cured..... What is clear is that not only is the idea of a Pre-Form One Session for students not likely; now a 8 January start is beginning to look elusive. I've already signed two teacher contracts for a November 1 start, having been assured, etc -- so we'll have to figure out how to employee the teachers without students.
As we toured the site yesterday with consultants, engineers, contractors, etc, we stopped by the laboratory to see a sample of a lab bench. Thank goodness for the Jesuit regent here. He asked how many people per bench. Answer: 8. How many benches in the room? 4. Now here is where difficult arithmetic comes in: 8 x 4 = ? Yep, still 32. And from the very beginning what number of students has everyone know the rooms are to be built to accommodate? 35.
I asked our architect and engineer whether our teachers would choose by lottery which 3 students would not receive laboratory experience and whether it would be on a weekly or annual basis. They'd known about this issue for sometime and didn't mention it. I had brought up the inadequacy of the design after the visit of Fr. Joseph Afulo, who had taught science as a regent at Loyola High School and who noted the design issue immediately. I was was assured at the time that everything was well-thought out, etc.
I was furious yesterday and found it difficult to keep a lid on it. We began to look for solutions. Can we pop out walls? Can we do this? Can we do that? A look of horror descended upon the professionals in the group when I mentioned, "Of course, the client can't be held financially responsible for labour and material costs for correcting such a grievous error in design?"
As the others walked in circles trying to figure out how to deal with the issue of making a curved wall square, I took a walk to cool down. And a perfect solution hit me. It will in fact provide a better design. We'll use classrooms in the Phase II wing for laboratories, and use the laboratories for other classrooms. This itself will take some creativity, but it is the best we can do, I think. We'll work some more on it, but this is the most practicable solution I think.
There were some design issues with the Jesuit Residence, too. Some misplaced windows, lack of ventilation, lack of emergency egress. On our part, we didn't provide for a place to put our car keys, mailboxes, community bulletin board, etc. The result is that we will now have an attractive entry way from our garage where we will keep these things.
A frustrating but ultimately rewarding day. It reminded me of Tony DeMello's story, "Good Luck. Bad Luck. Who Knows?"
On Thursday I went through the registry of those who received applications and compared them against those who returned their forms. Many people have not returned them. This makes our job extremely difficulty because we don't know exactly how many rooms to prepare, how many proctors to have on hand (called invigilators here), etc. I have have the help of Christopher, a youth from the parish, who has been a great help making calls, etc. We don't have adequate facilities or quite enough work yet for me to employ a full-time secretary, and he's very thorough and generous. We're figuring out exactly how many people will be here -- but it's meant a lot of phone calls. (I'm glad I asked for a registry of sales).
I left for the OLQP site yesterday at 8:00 a.m. and returned last night at 6:30 p.m. It was a long day. What did I learn? Well one thing is that my constant harping about provisions for water is now finally being heeded. I really had thought that folks were on top of this, that workers would arrive, put tanks on top of the buildings, connect them to pipes from the large tanks at our bore hole, and that we'd be in business. No such luck. More proximate tanks have first to be built near the buildings. Which means that the holes have to be dug, the concrete poured and cured..... What is clear is that not only is the idea of a Pre-Form One Session for students not likely; now a 8 January start is beginning to look elusive. I've already signed two teacher contracts for a November 1 start, having been assured, etc -- so we'll have to figure out how to employee the teachers without students.
As we toured the site yesterday with consultants, engineers, contractors, etc, we stopped by the laboratory to see a sample of a lab bench. Thank goodness for the Jesuit regent here. He asked how many people per bench. Answer: 8. How many benches in the room? 4. Now here is where difficult arithmetic comes in: 8 x 4 = ? Yep, still 32. And from the very beginning what number of students has everyone know the rooms are to be built to accommodate? 35.
I asked our architect and engineer whether our teachers would choose by lottery which 3 students would not receive laboratory experience and whether it would be on a weekly or annual basis. They'd known about this issue for sometime and didn't mention it. I had brought up the inadequacy of the design after the visit of Fr. Joseph Afulo, who had taught science as a regent at Loyola High School and who noted the design issue immediately. I was was assured at the time that everything was well-thought out, etc.
I was furious yesterday and found it difficult to keep a lid on it. We began to look for solutions. Can we pop out walls? Can we do this? Can we do that? A look of horror descended upon the professionals in the group when I mentioned, "Of course, the client can't be held financially responsible for labour and material costs for correcting such a grievous error in design?"
As the others walked in circles trying to figure out how to deal with the issue of making a curved wall square, I took a walk to cool down. And a perfect solution hit me. It will in fact provide a better design. We'll use classrooms in the Phase II wing for laboratories, and use the laboratories for other classrooms. This itself will take some creativity, but it is the best we can do, I think. We'll work some more on it, but this is the most practicable solution I think.
There were some design issues with the Jesuit Residence, too. Some misplaced windows, lack of ventilation, lack of emergency egress. On our part, we didn't provide for a place to put our car keys, mailboxes, community bulletin board, etc. The result is that we will now have an attractive entry way from our garage where we will keep these things.
A frustrating but ultimately rewarding day. It reminded me of Tony DeMello's story, "Good Luck. Bad Luck. Who Knows?"
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Full Days
I've had two contracts of the five I've offered returned. We now have a Kiswahili teacher (who will also serve as an assistant of sorts to me, too) and a geography/history teacher. I'm waiting for returned contracts from biology/agriculture, physics/maths, and English. In just a few moments I will be interviewing someone for business subjects (and civics for this first year), and tomorrow I will interview someone for chemistry/maths. It would be great to have all the faculty decisions made before I make the admissions decisions.
And speaking of admissions decisions. I have to say I'm pleased with the efficiency and order with which we're proceeding. Relevant information has been entered into a spreadsheet. This morning, I did a trial merge in Word, and it worked! So next week when students arrive they will receive an examination card that has their name and examination number and photo; the card will also have general instructions (like "don't write on test sheets" and "write your examination number on all answer sheets). I have a check list of things to be done, have invited invigilators and outlined their duties. If all goes according to plan (fat chance!), it should go well. The question will be whether we will need an afternoon testing. We're uncertain of that because contrary to the explicit directions on the forms, it seems some folks think they can bring the forms with them to the exam.
On Friday morning we have a site meeting with the contractors, sub-contractors, etc. These used to be finished by noon, but now that we are completing one phase and starting another they're much longer meetings. Exciting in many ways, but long. We're fortunate to have very good folks working on this project.
Many other things in the works as well -- details to follow in due time!
And speaking of admissions decisions. I have to say I'm pleased with the efficiency and order with which we're proceeding. Relevant information has been entered into a spreadsheet. This morning, I did a trial merge in Word, and it worked! So next week when students arrive they will receive an examination card that has their name and examination number and photo; the card will also have general instructions (like "don't write on test sheets" and "write your examination number on all answer sheets). I have a check list of things to be done, have invited invigilators and outlined their duties. If all goes according to plan (fat chance!), it should go well. The question will be whether we will need an afternoon testing. We're uncertain of that because contrary to the explicit directions on the forms, it seems some folks think they can bring the forms with them to the exam.
On Friday morning we have a site meeting with the contractors, sub-contractors, etc. These used to be finished by noon, but now that we are completing one phase and starting another they're much longer meetings. Exciting in many ways, but long. We're fortunate to have very good folks working on this project.
Many other things in the works as well -- details to follow in due time!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Maji ni Uhai
On Thursday I headed to the site with Mama Mcharro, a hydrologist. 
She was successful with our first well, which provides us four times more water than we’ll need with a campus full of students. But you can never be too careful here regarding water. In one of the major traffic circles in Moshi is a statue that has the following words on its plinth: maji ni uhai, water is life. (Incidentally, one of the Kiswahili words for “traffic circle” is kipulefti, taken from the signs in English often posted at such places.) We recognize how precious this resource is and are trying to be good stewards and good examples for others. We’ll reclaim water for use in irrigation and will “harvest” it during the rainy season from the many square feet of roofs on the campus.
She was successful with our first well, which provides us four times more water than we’ll need with a campus full of students. But you can never be too careful here regarding water. In one of the major traffic circles in Moshi is a statue that has the following words on its plinth: maji ni uhai, water is life. (Incidentally, one of the Kiswahili words for “traffic circle” is kipulefti, taken from the signs in English often posted at such places.) We recognize how precious this resource is and are trying to be good stewards and good examples for others. We’ll reclaim water for use in irrigation and will “harvest” it during the rainy season from the many square feet of roofs on the campus. Mama Mcharro is very excited about the project and is happy to help
us, but not without some trepidation. On each visit to survey and make her calculations about drilling, she’s encountered snakes: puff adders and cobras. Saint Patrick managed to get them off of Ireland, who will rid us of these creatures here?
While at the site I stopped by to check on the progress of the biodigester. Pretty amazing to see what’s happening on that front. I cannot underscore enough what an important role our using this as our means of treating wastewater will play. Already we have had two other institutions – one of them the University of Dodoma – visit us to enquire about the process. It is good to serve as a model for smart design – not cheap, mind you, but good!
Our carport is presently being used as a manufacturing site. The aluminium windows are being assembled there. It is pretty amazing to see the efficiency of the process, from cutting the aluminium and assembling the sections to inserting the glass and screens. At the same spot our desks are being manufactured.
In the office we’ve been busy with our admission applications. They were due last Wednesday. We’re still waiting on quite a number of them in anticipation of our testing day, 2 October. We’re putting our candidates’ information on a spreadsheet; once we have the data from the entrance tests we can enter that and begin to make admissions decisions.
Finally, I’m spending today finishing an article for a Spanish journal published by Radio Ecca. I’ve thought about it a lot, have written a number of notes, but now is crunch time, and I must actually write the article. (This reminds me of my mother. Several years ago I asked her how she was enjoying reading The Agony and the Ecstasy. “Well the agony is picking the book up, and the ecstasy is putting the darn thing back down.” The ecstasy was being asked to contribute to the journal; the agony is actually doing the work.)
omnia optima.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Even Here
Tomorrow I visit our school attorney, to whom we submitted our employment contract for review some time ago. I'm hoping he gives the thumbs up because I'm ready with job offers for an English teacher, Kiswahili teacher, Biology/Agriculture, and History/Geography. Four down, three more faculty hires to go.
With one week before the deadline for submission, folks are beginning to flood our office with applications. We're entering the information into a spread sheet in order to handle the rest of the admissions process smoothly.
That's the news that's fit to print.
With one week before the deadline for submission, folks are beginning to flood our office with applications. We're entering the information into a spread sheet in order to handle the rest of the admissions process smoothly.
That's the news that's fit to print.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
A Quick Update
Here is a quick update of our progress on the buildings. Notice the dormitory rooms have a base coat. Any suggestions for interior colours?
Below is the courtyard of the classroom block, where we'll have parading and morning assembly. Located under the curved section with the crenelation on the second floor (or first, depending on who is reading this!) will be speakers, leaders, etc. at assemblies.
Finally, the cement for the chapel is being poured (sorry all those people who have tried to help me with the difference between concrete and cement -- one of those things is being poured). Hard to call this a chapel when it will accommodate over 1,000 people! I'm very pleased with the floor design -- it will be very nice.
I had a visitor from Entebbe, Uganda, last week. Patrick Loti is a sculptor of religious art. A very kind friend of mine in Santa Barbara donated funds for a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace for our entrance way. In fact the generous gift will allow us to have other religious statuary as well. Patrick's work is lovely, and we're excited to see what he does for us.Here is an example of his work done for our community in Karen, Nairobi.
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