Michelle Bove, Shurid Rahman, and Vrunda Vaghela arrive at Kigali International Airport.
Before they arrived in Rwanda, we warned the Architecture for Humanity team that they should be prepared for an incredibly busy two weeks!
We picked up Shurid Rahman, Vrunda Vaghela, Michelle Bove, and Joe Fuentes at the airport, gave them a few minutes to drop off their bags at the house, and then drove out to Bugesera to explore the Akilah campus.
Our partners from the Workforce Development Authority (WDA) and the District of Bugesera as well as members of our Advisory Committee joined us out at the Akilah site on the beautiful Saturday afternoon.
The whole team by the lake. AfH team: Vrunda, Shurid, Joe, and Michelle; Chong and Johnson, Workforce Development Authority; Philbert Kalisa, Akilah Advisory Committee member; Emmanuel, Education Director for Bugesera district; Amon, the engineer; Akilah team: Dave Hughes, Maria Ersvaer, and Elizabeth Davis; and Placide Magambo.
Walking around the dormitory building
Taking the team down to the lake
During their time in Rwanda, the AfH team wanted to spend as much time as possible out at the site. But they also wanted to meet with other architects and engineers in Kigali, as well as exploring schools and construction projects around the country, and meeting with the Akilah advisory committee and government partners.
We had lunch at Heaven Restaurant one of their first days in Kigali to review the itinerary for their time in Rwanda. So much to do in just 2 weeks!
The Workforce Development Authority is one of our partners within the Rwandan government. Responsible for overseeing the development of the vocational and technical training systems, they have provided crucial support and assistance to Akilah.
Chong Fook Yen from the Workforce Development Authority invited our team to have dinner at the Jambo Inn.
Because it has passed through the hands of many different organizations, there is a lot that we do not know about this campus. Most of our information has come from individuals who have lived in the surrounding community for decades. There is no existing land title or land use information in the mayor’s office because all of these documents were destroyed during the war. It sometimes takes creative detective work to figure out the exact uses of some parts of the site.
There is a large pit in between two of the classroom buildings. We still are not positive about its exact use, but assume that it was a water tank at one point.
An old water tank is now overgrown with weeds.
Lunch at Chez Lando to discuss progress and drawings.
Some pictures of the toilets currently at the Akilah site. There is no sewage system, just simple pit latrines.
