Mbingo is a small rural community in the North West Region of Cameroon. The North West region suffers from a severe lack of governmental support as it is one of the two English-speaking regions in a country that is predominantly French-speaking. The locals mostly consist of subsistence farmers that, while they have enough food to eat, they have very little else. As such, they cannot afford much in the way of social services such as schools.

Three international volunteers worked with a non-profit NGO to renovate the local secondary school for the community. For this project, Scott McDougall (Canada), Elias Dechent (Germany), and Robin Novak (United States) worked in partnership with Belo Rural Development Program (BERUDEP) in order to raise the necessary funds to renovate the Mbingo Government Secondary School.

Before and during:
After:

School/Project Background

Before the renovation project began, the secondary school was being used although its constructed had not been completed. The school is sponsored by the government, and began in the spring of 2007. It is the only secondary school in Mbingo. Before this time, the students would have to walk up to two hours each way to attend a secondary school, thus discouraging them from going. The government provided funding for nine teachers for the new school, however, failed to provide the necessary funds for a building. In the first year the students were able to use a spare room from one of the local community members. Due to an increasing enrollment of the school (now numbering around 300 pupils), the spare room was no longer sufficient.

The community used its own resources to start building a structure that could be used as a school. Locals supplied much of the labour and materials and donated whatever they could financially. The community had previously leveled the foundation as well as created the three rooms (four classes) and administrative room using mud-brick. A roof had also been constructed for the entire building. The only cement finishing was done in the administrative room. The administrative room had plastered walls, cemented floors and a ceiling. The community alone was not able to complete the structure. Several components were missing in the classrooms including cement floors and walls, ceilings, doors and window-shutters.

By improving both local school structures and providing necessary materials and supplies being used within the classrooms, it is hoped that the school will provide a good, clean, safe learning environment for the local children for the distant future.

Remaining work due to a funds shortfall 

The school was not able to be fully completed. Out of the work requested by the school, only the floor in Room 1 needs to be finished with a shiny cement layer on the floor. Other work that has been identified included extending the cement floor work to the veranda, and the completion of plastering the adjacent bathroom facilities. It has also been mentioned that the school will be receiving electricity in the next short while and there is a desire to get computers. There is a desire to put in a ceiling once the computers are in place.

The community was ecstatic for the work performed and plan on raising the necessary funds for the remaining work on the school through community funding.

Read more about BERUDEP's education program