This Is What You've Made Possible!

It's amazing how much St. Dymphna has grown over the past 6 months. Recently the builders have completed the roofing for the first floor along with 2 additional classrooms. They continue to work on completion of classrooms, an administrative office, and roofing for the second floor. Most importantly, when the rest of the school is completed the remaining students on the waiting list will begin to attend school. I could continue to write about all of the progress that St. Dymphna has undergone, but it seems best to let the photos do the talking. Enjoy!

Thank You!!

Building Progress!!

Hello Family and Friends!

We are thrilled to tell you about how quickly St. Dymphna’s School has grown since our trip to Tanzania in January of 2008. Mary, the director of the school, has recently sent us many new photos and we wanted to share our sense of pride with you in hope that you will feel the same way. It is only through your continued support that this project has been able to become what it is today…a functioning school for special needs children in Tanzania.

As you see will from the photos below the second building is almost complete and is now home to one completed classroom, a storefront and functioning bathrooms. Yet to be completed in the second building is the classroom for continuing education for special needs young adults where these students will be taught how to cook, make various curios and sew. All of the products made in the class will be sold in the school store. The store will function to not only help sustain the adult education project but also the experience of selling goods will be a learning opportunity for students striving to gain employment in the future.




The third building continues to grow. Currently the foundation and walls are completed for the first floor of the building. This building will consist of classrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen.


The best news of all is that we now have ten children attending school daily at St. Dymphna. Our goal of providing a safe place for special needs children to learn and grow is being realized even as the building continues to grow around them. Mary and all of the children are incredibly grateful and asked me to pass along their appreciation.

There is still much work to be done, but I hope that you agree that with your help, we’ve accomplished a great deal.

Thank you again for all of your support. Through your contribution to Brick by Brick you are truly saving lives.

With Gratitude,
Colleen and Kari

Where Does The Money Go?

Brick By Brick is sharing with you how donations are being spent to build St. Dymphna. Below is a more recent update from Mary, the director and head teacher at St. Dymphna Special Needs School. You will see a breakdown of what supplies are being purchased with the money, costs for delivering those supplies, as well as labor costs to build the school. In addition, are new photos displaying the progress of the school. We are proud to share that the walls for the initial portion of the school are nearly completed and they will soon begin the ceiling and second level of the school. It is because of your gracious donations that we are one step closer to the completion of the school.

Building Material/Labor Costs
2.13.08
cement 100@13,500 = 1,350,000
steel Bars 16mm20pcs @23,000 = 460,000
Steel Bars 8mm30pcs@8,000 = 260,000
Binding wire 50kgs @2,000 = 100,000
Timbers 6*1 rm480 @1,208 = 580,000
Transport for materials = 130,000

3.14.08
Labour charge = 600,000
concrete bricks 500@1,200 = 650,000
Red bricks 4,040 @250 = 1,010,000
Bricks trans.3 trips@20,000 = 60,000

3.17.08
cement bags 50@1,200 = 675,000

3.19.08
Sand 1 lorry@80,000 = 80,000
labour charge = 1,000,000

3.23.08
concrete bricks 200 @1,200 = 250,000
sand 1 lorry@80,000 = 80,000
dpc(plastic for foundation = 45,000

3.29.08
Nails 10 kgs @1,800 = 18,000
stones 1 lorry @70,000 = 70,000

GRAND TOTAL IS 7,398,000/= Tz shs
= Approx. $6,725 US Dollars

Kwaheri (Goodbye) Tanzania

After two days of flying and a run in with food poisoning, it has been a real treat arriving back in the U.S. In America one tends to take for granted a refreshing shower and the ability to brush through your hair. Although Colleen and I are both back in the U.S. we look forward to continuing the construction of St. Dymphna. Before my departure from Tanzania, the fundi (workers), were rigorously working on the foundation of the second portion of the school. Only moments after I had arrived back in the U.S. and checked my email, I received word from Mary that the foundation had in fact been completed.
The fundi consistently amaze me with their endurance, speed, determination, and how meticulously they work. Their day is spent shoveling dirt, mixing cement, stacking cement blocks, all while being bare foot, yet rarely do I witness them breaking a sweat.
In addition to the foundation, the fundi were able to complete three bathrooms, which included tiling the main bathroom, placing sinks in the kitchen, and finishing the ceilings in the office and adult classroom, as well as other touchups. Lori, Anna, Colleen, and I were able to participate in a little hands-on work. We spent a day and a half sanding the adult classroom in preparation for painting. Once we were finished sanding and cleaning the walls, we were able to begin painting the classroom a color we referred to as Buttercream. We also spent time helping the fundi shovel dirt to prepare for the placement of cement blocks for the foundation. Needless to say we didn’t last long under the scorching sun.
The next step will be to construct the walls for the main level of the second portion of the school. We hope to be able to provide continuous updates as the walls are being built. Mary has agreed to take photos, scan them, and email them to us so we are able to share the school’s progress with all of you as it is happening. Keep in mind technology and transportation in Tanzania for Mary isn’t as reliable and timely as we are accustomed to in the U.S, but we’ll do our best to keep you as updated as possible. Thank you for your continued support.

Hello from Arusha!!!

We have nothing but good news for our first update. Since I left a year and a half ago the school has grown tremendously and it continues to grow before our eyes. The building was not what we expected but we are happy to say that it surpasses our wildest imaginations.

When I left here in July of 2006 we thought that the two-story portion of the building would be the priority and would hopefully be completed by now unfortunately as we are all too familiar with in the states our engineer/contractor had taken on one too many jobs and kept putting the school on the back burner. Fortunately for us Mary did not want the building to stop so while she waited for the contractor she began a second phase of the school and it is something we are very excited about.

One of the things we were worried about when we first started building St. Dymphna was how the school would sustain itself. Kari and I knew that we would not be able to continue to support the school upon completion and that Mary would have to find a way to keep it running herself or with the help of someone else, and in the last year Mary found a way to do just that.

Mary realized that once the children completed school around age 15 that they were then sent out in the to the world that was unlikely to employ them and provide them with the necessary training to obtain the skills they would need to be successful. So Mary came up with a solution. She began building another section of the school this section includes an adult/older children classroom that will be used to teach sewing, cooking, jewelry making etc. Right next door to this classroom is a storefront where the students can be taught to sell the goods they make, learn to make change and interact with the world in a business setting. We think the idea is brilliant and is exactly what the school needs to accomplish its mission to help children with special needs become functioning adults in Tanzanian society.

So it is with great excitement that we can tell you that this addition is almost complete. The building contains 6 rooms; two small sleeping quarters (Kari and I joked they were our rooms), an office, a store front, the adult classroom and bathrooms that contain two toilets and a shower. The building looks great and while the pictures don’t quite do it justice they are included here for your viewing pleasure.

The grounds also are shaping up quite nicely. Mary has planted a beautiful garden with both flowers and trees. The playground area is a very good size and is ready and waiting for a swing-set and slides to be installed.

And as for what is next, as of today, building will resume on the two-story portion of the main school building. We’ve hired a new engineer who is highly qualified in building such structures and he is bringing his crew today to start re-digging to stabilize the columns we sunk in July of 06. They’ve recently had earthquakes here and are now taking extra precautions to ensure the building is here to stay. By the time I leave next week the foundation will be poured and hopefully by the time Kari leaves on the 20th the brick walls will have begun to grow.

And as for Kari and I we are both happy and healthy. We are thrilled to have two new energetic volunteers on the trip with us. Kari’s sister, Lori, and her cousin, Anna, have dared the 20+ hour plane ride to come help us work on St. Dymphna's. They are a great addition to the Brick by Brick team.

We hope this update finds you all well and enjoying the New Year!

Until next time…salama.

***This was written on Friday, January 4th but due to lack of power is being posted today***

Colleen and Kari Return to Tanzania!

Good news!! Our blog will soon be updated with new pictures and stories of what has been happening at St. Dymphna's. Kari and I will be returning to Tanzania on December 28th to monitor the progress and hopefully be involved in the building process. If we're lucky we might even get to paint a new mural...any suggestions would be appreciated for what our next wall motif should be.

I know that everyone is curious as to what has been happening. As I am sure you can imagine its not the easiest task for us to get updates when we are here in the states but through email we have heard there is a lot of progress being made and we are incredibly excited to see what all has happened and what we will be doing next.

Once again I thank you for your support and continued interest. Keep checking back for new updates after December 28th.

And most importantly, I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.

Colleen

Brick By Brick Video Update

We've taken some time off due to work and school but we are happy to report that a lot of new and exciting things are about to happen at Brick by Brick! Over the next few weeks we will be updating our webpage with news, photos and videos.

We are also about to start a new fundraising campaign as we are happy to finally report that we obtained our 501.c.3 status from the IRS! This means that Brick by Brick is officially a non-profit business that is able to receive tax deductible donations!

Please check back soon to see all of our updates. Until then, I hope that you enjoy this short video we put together to show the progress that has occured since Brick by Brick began.