Young volunteers built the first building of the secondary school in Kashitu. Doing so, they tested innovative construction technology designed for local conditions.
On September 27, in the presence of the Czech ambassador to Zambia, Pavel Procházka, District Commission Office of the President, Mr Francis Hasalama, and other authorities, a new workshop was opened, which had been built in three months by Czech builders with local volunteers. Doing so, they used the new construction technology of interlocking unburnt bricks stabilized with cement. It can help local people to achieve a better quality of life. The workshop is the first building of the future high school for 250 students. For now, it will function as a training centre for this new construction technology.
200 local people, including guests, gathered for the festive event. Representatives of municipal and government officials also came. Ambassador of the Czech Republic Pavel Procházka said at the opening of the building: “We gathered here in the heart of Kashitu with great joy and pride to celebrate the result of the cooperation of Czech and Zambian volunteers, representatives of Czech Technical University in Prague and the local New Renato Community Society. The opening of this workshop marks the beginning of an ambitious project that brings a better future for the people of Kashitu.”
“The opening of this workshop marks the beginning of an ambitious project that brings a better future for the people of Kashitu.” Pavel Prochazka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Zambia.
He meant that the workshop is the first building of the future high school. The nearest one is 40 kilometers away in Kapiri Mposhi. Until the first secondary school classrooms are built, the new workshop will serve as a place for Kashitu residents to learn how to make bricks on a special brick-making mashine from soil and gravel near their homes.
Ten local volunteers gave a demonstration of the brick making process to the guests. Subsequently, they were awarded for their three-month voluntary work. They received a certificate of training and souvenir gifts from the hands of the ambassador and local authorities.
The Commissioner of the District Office of the President, Mr. Francis Hasalamo, also spoke several times at the ceremony. He greatly appreciated that there is a new and large workshop in Kashitu. He thanked the volunteers, especially the Czech ones, and asked them not to stop supporting the local community and persevere into the nextphases of the construction, because the secondary school brings local residents hope of achieving higher education and thus self-sufficiency.
“Thank you to all the volunteers, especially the Czech ones. Please do not stop supporting the local community, but persevere through the next stages of construction. The secondary school brings local residents the hope of achieving higher education and thus self-sufficiency.” Francis Hasalamo, Commissioner of the District Office of the President of Zambia.
The bricks are produced on a special brick-making machine, which was sponsored by the producer Cut-Tech and donors from Czech Republic. The brick-making technique is based on traditional brick-making procedures used in Zambian countryside. The new technology is that cement is added to the mixture. The bricks harden on their own in less than a month. There is no need to burn them, which saves a lot of wood and makes the brick-making process three-times quicklier. Also, the bricks are stronger than fired bricks and they are resistant to termites. What is more, the brick press mashine produces two bricks at once in half the time of a traditional tool. In this way, the construction process based on interlocking unburnt cement bricks makes it possible to build faster, cheaper, sensitive to the nature, and at the same time with better quality.
Bornface Mamfunda, ředitel místní neziskové organizace New Renato, děkoval všem, díky nimž budova stojí: celkem 31 českým i zambijským dobrovolníkům, kteří na stavbě pracovali zdarma 3 měsíce, Ing. Petru Čandovi, pod jehož vedením všichni dobrovolníci pracovali, UNDP (Unated Nations Development Program – rozvojovému fondu OSN) a Ministerstvu zahraničních věcí ČR, i českým dárcům, kteří darovali peníze přes českou organizaci Přátelé New Renato. Slovo “Děkujeme vám!” bylo tento den vysloveno nesčetněkrát.
Bornface Mamfunda, director of the local non-profit organization New Renato, thanked everyone who made the building stand: a total of 31 Czech and Zambian volunteers who worked on the building for free for 3 months, Ing. Peter Chanda, under whose leadership all the volunteers worked, UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, as well as Czech donors who donated money through the Czech organization Friends of New Renato. The word “Thank you!” has been uttered countless times this day.
Representatives of the Zambian organization New Renato, the Czech non-profit organization Friends of New Renato and the ICWD Implementation Team of the Czech Technical University in Prague are now discussing the next stage of the construction of the secondary school. More information and future high school plan: https://www.kashituschool.org/en/.
About New Renato Community Society
New Renato Community Society (NRCS), a CB NGO , was founded in 1987 on demand of local people. Its main goal is to improve the quality of living in the countryside of Zambia, having on mind principally orphans and vulnerable children who are going to create the future of this area some day. NRCS was founded thanks to a group of Kashitu village inhabitants lead by Bornface MamfundaNRCS helps mainly in the Kashitu area and then also in the villages along the road connecting the cities of Ndola and Kapiri Mposhi (19.000 inhabitants; data from 1/2023). Activities and projects of the community are aimed to solve the bigger problems of the Zambian youths in the countryside.
