Recently The Hananani Primary School, one of our community projects, got a major overhaul!

Thanks to Andersen Construction (a building company from the USA), the school welcomed two new shipping container classrooms! Plus all the existing classrooms were given a face-lift including new coats of paint, refurbished gutters, additional water-tanks to harvest more rainwater, lights were fixed, fans installed and all the electrical issues rectified.

This was a massive project, costing a substantial amount, and would have been totally out of our reach if it wasn’t for Joel Andersen. Joel was a guest at Thornybush in 2017, and took part in one of our community project tours. He quickly saw what the school needed and committed to getting involved.

After months of planning between the Anderson Construction project manager, Maddy – and Candice from the Inzalo Community Projects, the first stage of the project was under way in March 2019, which saw the preparation of the foundation slab on which the shipping containers would sit. Then in April, there was a lot of excitement as the containers left the USA, bound for South African and their new home at Hananani Primary School. In June, around 35 people came out from Andersen Construction in the USA, to help with converting the two shipping containers into classrooms.

Impact on the community

The impact this project had was not only felt at the school! The ripple effect from this initiative has affected local livelihoods and the local economy in positive, uplifting ways. Five local labourers from Dixie (the village in which the school is located) were hired to assist with building the foundation for the containers, 3 of which have subsequently been offered permanent positions with the sub-contractor who helped to lay the slab. There were also an additional 25 – 30 people hired from the community to help with the refurbishment of the existing classrooms, and to help with the re-purposing of the containers into classrooms. Plus ALL materials were also locally sourced!!

We are so excited for the next step in this project – keep an eye on the Thornybush Facebook Page for updates on this project!