SCALEAfrica is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the design and construction of vital school infrastructure projects in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Through culturally-responsive, sustainable architecture and an active community participation model, SCALEAfrica seeks to increase educational access and effectiveness, as a means of alleviating poverty and diminishing the impact of the major public health threats that plague rural African communities.

WHY WE WORK

It’s a right, not a question mark.

Only once we were in the thick of construction on that first project, did the reasons for building schools really hit us. It was an eye-opening and educating process spending time in rural Zambia talking to kids, parents, and teachers about their realities and their hopes. What started for us back in 2008, by order of priority:

1) build
2) do it responsibly
3) engage the community,

has been preempted by this single driving realization:

EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.

Educating children, especially girls, is essential to an improved global future, not just because they have the untapped potential for increasing economic development, but because they end up driving real social change through altering perceptions, working within and for their communities and passing on the legacy of education, literacy and health to their children. 

WHY BUILD SCHOOLS?

365 – 104 – 91 - 15= 155 / 2 = 78 DAYS A YEAR (MAYBE)

School is five days a week - take out 104 days for weekends, another 91 days for summer break, another 15 days for miscellaneous breaks and holidays, and the average student is in school 155 days a year.

With too few teachers and lack of classroom space in Zambia, the lucky student that can pay the school fees and squeeze into the overcrowded session only attends half days, or about 4 hours a day. That’s effectively 78 days a year. Combine that with a long drawn out rainy season that washes out your makeshift classroom or scorching heat that makes it difficult to concentrate and it goes without saying that students and teachers need more well-designed physical space to learn effectively. The stakes are too high not to do it.

More classroom space means more kids in school and more kids in school means a future predicated on opportunity not circumstance.

FACING THE CHALLENGE

The future of Zambian children hinges on this ability to receive a basic education. With almost 50% of the country’s population under 15 years of age, the fact is that Zambia is a nation of children – children with the potential to be educated out of a life of poverty and ill-health. Schools arms them with both knowledge and essential tools for survival against hiv/aids, malaria, and disease from contaminated water. 

BUILDING THE SOLUTION TOGETHER

These challenges are global, but the solutions are local. Real change occurs when the people affected are the primary players in making it happen and sustaining the effects. SCALEAfrica introduces sustainable designs and building techniques to the community with the expectation that everyone who benefits from these improvements participates in making it come to life. Whether it’s making bricks by hand, carting water for the concrete mixture or painting walls, the whole community has a part in building their collective future. 

That is the power of design.

“What we really need is a library…..” – I.M. Lungu, Head Teacher of Chiutika Basic School, 2006

On a tour of the Chiutika Basic School in 2006, while visiting Mfuwe, Zambia, Guy and I were immediately struck by the crumbling conditions of the only classroom building and the unlikely enthusiasm of the students learning there. At the end of our visit, Mr. Lungu looked to me earnestly and said “what we really need is a library.” As an architect, my head was swimming, “how can I build this place a library, what would it take?” He continued, “…well, what we really need is a dictionary.” One dictionary for his 1000 students.

Even though we had just met, we couldn’t walk away from these kids when we felt we had the capacity to help them, especially when presented with this very humble request. We weren’t sure in what form yet, but we were determined to do something.

Back home in Brooklyn we started sending books. First a dictionary and a thesaurus, but also books on Zambia’s culture, history and wildlife. We were also exchanging letters with Mr. Lungu, getting the news on the kids and the happenings in the community. One letter came, telling us the roof had blown off the classroom building at Chiutika. We decided we would step up and fix it - we felt such a connection to them at this point, we couldn’t let them down.

We founded SCALEAfrica with this one little project. SCALE may be an acronym for Sustainable Communities and Learning Environments, but it also implies a model for growth - something that may start small, but has larger goals in its future. By small we mean a tiny catalyst, like a dictionary. By larger, we mean expanding our reach so that any child who wants to go to school will have that chance.

-Erinn McGurn, Co-Founder