Georgette is upgrading the infrastructure of the site to meet local requirements:
- Completing a fence across the top of the campus;
- Upgrading the well that was installed in 2014;
- Completing the electrification of the site.
Regarding the fence:
The Education Department of Kinshasa requires that schools are completely enclosed in a fence, with metal gates. The German church provided partial funding for this fence. Three sides are completed.
There is about seventy-five meters more required along the road – the brown/sand line across the top of the schoolyard. Also, two gates are required – one for pedestrians only, and another to allow service vehicles in.
The cost of completing this properly is approximately $30,000. The cost is higher than we’d expect, for the following reasons:
- this part of Kinshasa sits on large sand dunes, so the foundations must be well-built;
- the fences in this area are made of stone or bricks. Wood is quickly eaten by insects, doesn’t stand up to the elements well, and is also very expensive. It is used almost entirely in finishing applications, not construction;
- and the gates are made of metal, welded together. The cost to Georgette is somewhat reduced by having one of her graduates provide welding expertise at a steep discount.
Regarding the well:
A 110 meter borehole was installed in 2014, and the equipment needs an upgrade at this point. More details will be available after our visit there the first week of June. Our current estimate is that this will cost $10,000.
Regarding electricity on site:
Georgette recently received a donation to partially complete the electricity project on-site, and needs another $2,000 to complete that project, at which point her current needs will be met.
1. From her own funds, earned while working for the World Food Programme, Georgette built a house in 2005/6 as a home to 54 children. Now the front half of the building houses the kindergarten, and the back half houses the girls. 
2. Congo’s Children sourced funds from the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation to purchase water tanks which collect water during the rainy season, providing a steady supply of clean water during rainy season for the home, the school, and the neighbourhood. 
3. An American organization provided a well in 2014, complete with solar panels to power the pump. In the years since it has become clear that the equipment – sand filter, electric motor, power for the motor, and the pump need an upgrade to provide reliable longterm service. 
4. Georgette’s focus from the beginning of her work was and is education. A German church, The Evangelical Church of Oberbantenberg-Bielstein, provided the funds for these first 6 classrooms. These are the first school buildings to be put up, and were put in use before construction was even complete. 
5. A local contractor provided two more classrooms in 2015 for free – as a demonstration of a new building technique he was modelling
