Elementary School Dalaba Balimana

Building A with 3 classrooms
Thanks to 75% subsidies from the BMZ (Bundesministerium für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit) and 25% from our association, we were able to build an elementary school in Dalaba Balimana in the sub-prefecture of Fodecariah & Balimana, from September 2022 to the end of April 2023.

Building B with 3 classrooms
This school project, comprising 2 buildings with 3 classrooms each, a borehole and a sanitary block with 8 latrines and a septic tank, will enable the village's 387 schoolchildren to pursue a normal education from CP1 to CM2 from the start of the new school year in September 2023.

Classroom
Each classroom is equipped with desks for 35-40 pupils, a teacher's chair and desk, a large blackboard and a cupboard.

Sanitary block with 8 latrines and a water tower
To obtain regional ministerial support for education (DPE de Kankan) cad the assignment of teachers, each school must have its own borehole and latrines.
We've done better:

1. We built these 8 latrines with an ecological septic tank comprising 3 filtering rooms.
2. We installed a water tower connected to 5 solar panels to run a pump that automatically fills the 5,000-liter cistern, ensuring a constant supply of water for the communal sinks.

Communal washbasins
The collective washbasins, with their 20 taps, enable the 387 pupils to wash their hands with soap quickly before entering the classroom and after toileting.
This installation complies with WASH and Guinea's SNAPE standards, and ensures the quality of drinking water, so that children suffer less from diseases transmitted by unsafe water.

Drinking water well
In line with school regulations, we have installed a conventional drinking water well topped by a hand pump, providing drinking water for children, teachers and neighboring families. Our 80 m deep borehole accesses unpolluted groundwater, guaranteeing clean, drinkable water.

The FASSO DEMEN association (Help for the village in Malinké)
The FASSO DEMEN youth organization, which exists in almost every Guinean village, is there primarily to help their village restore roads and paths, and organize the clean-up of common areas. Here, they've made themselves useful by digging the foundations of the elementary school and the septic tank.

From the start of the new school year, they are also committed to monitoring the proper use of the communal washbasins.

The SANIYA association (Aid for village cleanliness in Malinké)
The SANIYA women's organization, which exists in almost every Guinean village, is essentially there to help their village clean up infrastructures such as schools and health posts.
They are committed to regularly cleaning and disinfecting the Dalaba elementary school.

Raising parents' awareness of the importance of drinking water
As part of our project, we set aside a budget to raise awareness of the importance of drinking water for life, hygiene and health. During a visit from SNAPE, the organization responsible for ensuring water quality in Guinea, the parents carefully followed the recommendations and instructions to learn about the health benefits of drinking water in the new school buildings.

Thanking the population (Video)

'We Want Free Water' by N´Faly Kouyaté and Tiken Ja Fakoly

Raising students' awareness of the importance of water
In this budget for raising awareness of the importance of drinking water for life, hygiene and health, we've developed teaching sheets for teachers, collected illustrated stories for children and short explanatory videos, games and a big Quiz to motivate children to acquire all the knowledge they need to demonstrate the importance of drinking water.

Children in the classroom (Video)