In traditional Africa each member of a family is responsible for the well-being of all other members. Each member of a community in my homeland has a duty to the whole community. Each individual is indispensable for the survival of the community. If one member of the community leaves in search for a better life, he tries to compensate his loss by sending back financial aid.

I am in precisely that situation and wish to fulfil my part of this social duty, the »being there for each other«.

The difference to the usual procedure is that I wish to provide my family and the community as a whole with a solution which reaches beyond financial support.

My presence in Europe has allowed me to look further beyond the horizon than most of my compatriots. Among other things I have realized that school education and training are the basis of any social, professional and economic development.
For this reason it is vital that a school is provided for my village and that it is made accessible to as many children as possible.

Smaller development projects will improve the quality of life in the village; they will be activated parallel to the main building project and will be taken over by the village community.

Helping people to help themselves is at the forefront of all our projects. I have nothing against giving food and meals to hungry people. It is our duty to help victims to survive by providing immediate aid particularly when natural disaster strikes cause famine. However, long-term considerations should be a priority in the case of proper and sustainable development aid. We cannot afford to wait until disaster strikes before we make a move. Otherwise the very opposite of what we as development workers are trying to achieve will come to pass - irreversible long-term dependence. Unless precisely that was our objective, in which case the term market-conquest would be more appropriate than development aid.

People should literally be taught to fish rather than be given fish to eat.
Therefore the motto of my project for the development of my village is

»School should make schools«.

To be more precise: Since children learn quicker than adults, all innovations will be introduced through the school to allow the children to get used to them and later pass this on to the rest of the village. Certain things will need a lot of time but I hope that soon there will be a generation which will take these new facilities for granted. I believe that such an approach is most sustainable in the long run.

The following examples should clarify what is meant by this.

Reading and Writing

It is of benefit to the whole family when students learn to read and write.
Even if the children don't get that far in school, their knowledge will still be of use when it comes to keeping in touch with other family members who have left to seek their fortune in neighbouring countries. Roughly a third of my village lives in Ivory Coast, Ghana, or the bigger cities of my homeland.
Research has shown that the children of literate mothers are healthier than those of illiterate mothers.

Supporting Education for Girls

The effect of a village girl managing to get enough education to obtain a paid job is enormous as far as emancipation is concerned. A woman who is able to maintain herself and break away from the societal conventions which have been forced upon her is looked upon in a totally new light. Lots of parents are motivated to get their daughters access to education for this reason.

Vegetable Garden

A vegetable garden tended by pupils and teachers is not only a source of nutrition and a responsibility. Parallel to their school education, the pupils learn one of the most important trades accessible to the village people (farming and market gardening). This avoids societal problems with those who can't keep up. If the children don't do very well in school they can work in farming later on. Their school education will not have distanced them from their families and farming; on the contrary, the opposite will be the case. They can use the new or improved methods of cultivation for their own livelihood as well as being able to pass them on to others.

Latrines

As in almost all villages in Burkina Faso, there are no toilets in Gando. Relief is found outdoors and later washed into the rivers in the rainy season. This leads to huge increases in intestinal and stomach diseases. This is the reason for the introduction of latrines which are a sort of adapted toilet.
Latrines will also firstly be introduced into the school where teachers and pupils can try them out and supervise them and later pass the habit on to the rest of the village. It is inevitable that even if the latrines are not welcomed by the older population, those who know them from school will want them in their homes, at the latest when they raise their own families.

Women's Coop

Apart from the children in my village I am also concerned about their mothers who have indescribably tough everyday lives.
Although the women in my village carry the main burden for the family, they are still discriminated against by the men. Or to be more polite, if it weren't for the women in Africa, the whole continent would be in a much worse state. It is the women who, through their hard work and inventiveness, insure the survival of a whole clan and furthermore finance their children's education.

That is exactly the reason why they should receive support from us.
Small amounts of money are used to try to secure a solid source of income for them. However, more extensive financial support will only be provided if they show their own initiative and if they can partly supply their own financing.
The same goes for support to parents in providing school materials for their children.
Parents are obliged to take responsibility for their offspring. Otherwise education in the village would remain dependent on external support. This would be fatal for the future of the village.

Youths

As well as putting both new and traditional building methods in relation to each other we also emphasize the advantages of traditional methods (cost, transport, internal climate ...) and point out the disadvantages of modern concrete buildings.

We also aim to show how money and know-how can be combined more effectively. Clever construction and building physics can produce solutions which can mostly be carried out using local materials. But most important is a big emphasis on education. Young lads who are dying to get jobs will be educated in as many subjects as possible (stone production, brick laying, and the proper use of modern materials, such as cement).

This should provide employment for young men. It should put a stop to migration and thus help to secure the village's future.
Inspired by the projects of the last few years, several young people from the village would like to set up a society together in order to better organize the future development of the village.

The Whole Village Community

The plan is to develop a system which can later be easily imitated. As far as the buildings are concerned (e. g. the teachers' houses): on the one hand they must be so simple - technically speaking - and on the other hand so cheaply developed, designed, and carried out that the village community can later apply them to their own residential houses.
We will give priority to local and cheap materials.

Only those who are involved in the development process can appreciate the results achieved, develop them further and protect them.

Francis Kéré founded the »Schulbausteine für Gando e. V.« association in order to put these ideas into practice.
The association aims to provide the village community of Gando in Burkina Faso with development aid. Education, sexual education, health, and nutrition are to be particularly emphasized.

Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.