Chitukuko is a rural community located about 20km west of Lusaka. It was established in 2015 when around 500 families were forced by new land owners to leave farmland they had been squatting on for many years. Chilanga council allocated the families small plots in a barren area. Establishing a new community has been a tough challenge.
Chitukuko Phase One
In 2016 we built a three-classroom block with a strong room and an office. We also built a teacher’s house, a latrine block to improve sanitation and planted a school garden that is supplying fruit to the school. We drilled a borehole to provide clean water and installed solar power so classrooms can be used by the community in the evenings.
The new school opened with 3 teachers and 230 pupils in 2016 and has successfully grown with 7 teachers and 468 pupils now registered which is a huge step forward.
Chitukukuo Phase Two
The dramatic increase in pupil number means that further building work is now urgently required to cope with the growth.
With your support, work has just started on:
- The first of two small teachers’ houses
- An additional latrine block for girls
The site for the new house has been cleared and set out. Work has now started on excavation of the foundation trenches.
Limestone bedrock close to the surface makes excavation challenging, but will be incorporated into the foundations to provide a very strong base.
The site for the new latrine block has also been cleared and prepared, and work has started on the excavation of the pit.
The latrine block will be made from Stabilised Soil Bricks (SSB). Community involvement in this process is vital with local people helping to prepare the earth, process the blocks and stack them to dry. The community at Chitukuko have produced 1,478 blocks so far, with 4,000 required for the build.
We have recruited four Build It graduates to support the construction work at Chitukuko. They will learn additional skills around reading construction plans, labour management and costings to help them further develop their employment opportunities.
We look forward to updating you on the progress at Chitukuko.
Find out more about our approach to Sustainable Design.
