The nonprofit Madagascar Construction et Partage was created in 2003 by the final-year students if the Franklin Saint-Louis de Gonzague High School, with the primary aim of building schools in Madagascar. Every year, a group of final year students takes charge of financing an operation (in the first year, the nonprofit funded the construction of a Catholic school in the village of Andoharano) and gets involved in carrying out the target project by participating in the construction or refurbishment of the buildings or classrooms. With this spirit of continuity and solidarity with the local population, two groups of volunteers have also organized events during their stay with the children, and ran a French language course for three weeks.
Paris high school students involved in building schools in Madagascar
Since 2003, the students' association that has plunged into this issue unfailingly supplies the logistics required to complete construction projects and to send volunteers to the field.
The goal for 2010 is to carry out three building projects in three villages
Twenty final-year students, divided into three groups, are engaged in preparing these projects. Each of the groups will set off for three weeks on an assignment this summer to participate in completing the worksite and to propose entertaining and tuition activities for the children.
The first project is the construction of twenty-five wash basins and ten showers at Ambiatibe. It concerns the 630 students of the village. The second is the construction of a basketball court with a safety grille at Ankazondandy. It concerns nearly two thousand young persons. The third is the construction of a school with four classrooms at Ambohimanatrika, the old building having been destroyed by a cyclone. It will serve the eighty children of the peasant families of the village.
This outstanding initiative of high school students endures in a country with real needs, especially for education. While the final-year students are involved in the design, financing, and in the field, for each project, the population are stakeholders and also invest financially in buying the land and in providing the manpower.
The Veolia Foundation was requested to complete the funding of the project, particularly for the infrastructure, and the purchase of worksite equipment and materials.
