The Tongo School focuses on sustainable design and environmentally friendly building techniques. Cement is the main building material used in most Malian schools. Because cement is not produced in Mali, it must be shipped in from Cote d'Ivoire by truck, which makes cement a very expensive component of the budget. By using a technique called compressed earth bricks, the amount of cement utilized in the Tongo School project is less than 25% of the average school. We have also incorporated an innovative rainwater harvesting system into the design, which during the rainy season, will be able to collect as much as 4200 gallons of water to be used for garden irrigation during the dry/hot season. This project has taken over two years to get funded but is finally underway and should be completed by the time we leave Mali. We have partnered with an NGO called BuildOn to help with fundraising and overall supervision of the project.
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