Construction for Change

The Final Product in Kakata!

justmpratt@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:42:13 +0000

First of all, sorry for the delay from Tim and I. The school is finished, and we are extremely excited and proud of the results.

Because we had such amazing workers, we were able to complete the project in just over 3 months! We both were extremely grateful for our experience in Kakata; the people in the community couldn’t have been more welcoming to us. Since I have been home, people have been asking me, “How would I describe my experience,” and it can all be summed up with HUMBLED. You meet these people who have very few possessions, have just lived through 2 Civil Wars, and have every reason in the world to be bitter but everyone is just thankful for that day.

The construction process went super smoothly. You quickly learn that everyone in Liberia knows someone who can fulfill your construction needs. We created some strong partnerships and lifelong friendships with our workers that we are eager to continue into the future.

Liberia is a country thats biggest necessity is education. 20 years of war has really hurt the education of a large portion of people. The biggest issue now is getting the country educated, so that they can bring the country back to the strength it once was. We have high hopes that our new school and our partnership with the Mentee Educational Foundation will be an effective way of doing just that!

School Building in Liberia is Completed!

toniasimmonds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:06:16 +0000

A mere 4 months is what it took to complete the Mentee Educational Foundation’s school building in Kakata, Liberia! This quick turnaround is energizing for CfC and undoubtedly for the Mentee Educational Foundation and its mission in Liberia.

Above are photos of the stages on the construction timeline. For this accomplishment, congratulations are in order for Nick, Tim, Justin and Dan and their support teams.

Justin will soon update his blog and post photos of the celebration with the team on the ground in Kakata.

Founder of CfC’s Liberia partner recognized by Kirkland, WA press

toniasimmonds — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:12:45 +0000

Ms. Antoinette Brewster, founder and steward of the Mentee Education Foundation was recently recognized by members of the Kirkland, WA press for her work in Liberia. Ms. Brewster, inspired by her father, founded the Mentee Education Foundation to support the education of children in Liberia while living in Kirkland.

The Mentee Education Foundation has partnered with CfC to construct a school in Kakata, Liberia. Please follow the links to read the articles recognizing Ms. Brewster’s work and the current Kakata school project.

http://www.kirklandviews.com/archives/31413/

http://kirkland.komonews.com/news/community-spirit/706962-kirkland-woman-raises-funds-school-war-torn-liberia

Champion of One Acre Fund and past CFC partner recognized by Forbes

toniasimmonds — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:24:27 +0000

33 year-old Andrew Youn of One Acre Fund is being recognized as one of the 30 most innovative Social Entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine. The honor was placed upon him by a select and distinguished panel of philanthropists and entrepreneurs for working on one of the world’s most troublesome issues.

One Acre Fund is helping East African farmers with low interest loans and agricultural education. Andrew also set up a system for providing crop insurance and better prices on modern commercial seeds. The result is farmers are doubling their profits in a single planting season!

CfC partnered with One Acre Fund in 2010 to help with fundraising and construction management for buildings in Bungoma, Kenya slated for agricultural education, offices and dormitories. The Economic Development Center buildings were completed by project managers Dave Betts and Conner Dinnison.

CfC is extremely proud of the impactful and powerful change in the lives of East Africans that Andrew Youn is producing. News of this recognition inspires CfC to continue to partner with non profits who are focusing on sustainable economic development and education in developing communities around the world.

For a look at the One Acre Fund project, please check out the project section of the CfC website.

The article on Andrew Youn can be found in the current issue of Forbes magazine.

Breaking Ground in Kakata!!!

justmpratt@gmail.com — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:49:24 +0000

Greetings from Kakata! Tim and I arrived a couple weeks ago and so far it has been go, go, go. It took us a few days to figure out how things work around here. We had quite a few interesting experiences figuring out everything from what to eat, and what are the best ways to get around. Eventually we started to get the hang of things.

Our first order of business was setting up a warehouse to store our materials. Once that was accomplished, we dug into the rest of the plans. We found out most buildings and houses over here are made with cement blocks, and from all accounts that was the best way to proceed with the school. We ended up hiring two separate teams of people. One was busy building and constructing blocks (both 8″ and 6″), and the other was hammering out the foundation.

We hope you enjoy the pictures, there will be more to come as the project progresses!

CfC co-founder Elijah Grindstaff featured by Stalyon

toniasimmonds — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:55:33 +0000

Stalyon retails apparel to support philanthropic causes and has featured CfC co-founder Elijah Grindstaff in his role as musician. Stalyon promotes Global Citizens and philanthropic organizations as part of its Global Village initiative. CfC is excited to be featured by this retail concept. Please follow the link to see more of Stalyon and its feature article on Elijah and CfC.

http://stalyon.us/give/?p=119

Jason Koenig’s photoessay recognized by Photophilanthropy

toniasimmonds — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:17:27 +0000

The beautiful photography of CfC volunteer Jason Koenig is currently being featured on Photophilanthropy. The organization is recognizing Jason’s photoessay capturing the faces of the community during the 2010 STEP school construction in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. Please follow the link to see Jason’s essay compilation for Photophilanthropy.

http://photophilanthropy.org/gallery-posts/step-cambodia/

Project Managers Leave for Liberia

toniasimmonds — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:43:25 +0000

Justin Pratt and Tim Hickory took off on November 15th for Kakata, Liberia where they will be managing the construction of a school for the Mentee Educational Foundation. CfC is excited to have Justin and Tim as project managers for this project and can’t wait to see their progress over the coming months.

Toughbuilt Tools Donates to Construction for Change

toniasimmonds — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:16:03 +0000

CfC would like to give a big thank you to Toughbuilt Tools for their kind donation of 10 boxes of tools for our project managers to use on upcoming projects. Our project managers will now have proper tools to ensure high quality work on all of our projects. Pictured are Liberia project manager Justin Pratt with CfC staffers Nick Tosti and Dan Wachtler. Justin has his tool bag packed and ready to go!

Limulunga Community School project follow-up

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:02:00 +0000

In June, 2011 CfC did a follow-up on the LCS project. The project has attained strong sustainability indicated by the 16% increased enrollment at the school, 25% improvement in test scores, increased school attendance and salaried teachers. This points to good acceptance by the community and Zambian Ministry of Education. No child is turned away due to lack of space. The two school structures house 16 classrooms and now house 650 (capacity 700) instead of the previous 560, a staff room and a storage room. All of this space has positive implications for increasing enrollment, securely housing materials for government exams, increasing the number of teachers for LCS and a more pleasant learning environment for the students.

The project was led by Phase I managers Tyler Nelson and Eric Hardie and Phase II managers Dan Wachtler and Kyle Parrish. They were supported by a team of about 25 locals in the construction of two concrete buildings in the monsoon zone of Monga, Zambia. There were successful outcomes in the construction, especially the roofing, spacious classrooms and good lighting.

The school now farms a school garden and a fish pond. The proceeds from the farming help to pay for electricity. The school still needs a reliable water source.