After the rapid realization and activation of the two Afagna Gbleta and Sandale Kope wells by the members of APMED, the Togolese organization that we decided to finance, we were offered a project of a very different size and cost.
It was about creating a high school for 150 students in the Afagnan Gbleta area.
About 300 students, male and female, attended the high school in this area but it was a shack, among other things without a toilet, where we could only store agricultural tools.
It makes sense to have this kind of school in Togo, because it is a great way to create a good culture, which allows young people to find intellectual job and not manual only and, above all, to prevent them from emigrating abroad to get a good position or at least to escape misery.
State schools are paid and therefore the current one was the only solution for poor people.
But the environmental conditions are unlivable and so the idea of making a real school was born, unfortunately it may only accommodate a half of the students but , if the project goes through, can be doubled in the future.
After several discussions and refinements of the initial project, we came to the conclusion of financing it with the condition that as a first activity the toilet block in the vicinity of the old building was built, in order to immediately give relief to boys and girls including those who couldn’t be transfered to the new classrooms.
This first part of the project was completed in the spring of 2019.
The work of the school then continued with the excavation for the foundations and with the construction of the perimeter walls and, thanks to favorable weather conditions, the time schedule that provided for the high school to be available for students and teachers in the spring of 2020,was respected: the high school was inaugurated in April 2020.
Obviously we have encountered some difficulties : the main one was represented by the doubling of the cost of the timber necessary for the construction due to some legislative changes by the local government, aimed at curbing logging and reducing wood consumption for buildings, which is imported from Ghana with high duties and transport costs.
All this determined an extra cost, compared with the agreed budget, of 4.000 €. The total expenditure stands of 40.000 € around.
We agreed with APMED friends to title the high school to Luisella Fornero, our great benefactor who, from the sky, would be happy to know that her donation , together with all the yours , contributed to offer a brighter future to many young Togolese.
