After leaving the camp at the end of 2006, I stayed in contact with Karrus and a few of the usual suspects during 2007. I assisted Karrus with travel to Liberia a couple of times, and he managed to secure some land in Bong County, near Suakoko. A village chief committed 100 acres for the school/farm complex. The idea was that the students and teachers would repatriate from Buduburam back to Suakoko, build a school, and also a farm which would generate income as well as food for the school.
I offered to assist with some of the logistics. An early difficulty was actually locating the land. For a few months I tried to determine exactly where it was, and what type of land, topology etc. This was more difficult than I imagined. Finally I asked if we could get the land surveyed; that would give us a firm location, as well as the information needed around planning the buildings and farm. I sponsored the survey and apparently it took place, however as of today we have still not seen the output.
I then said that I would come over in April 2008, and we would start seriously planning the construction and relocation. From over here there is too much missing information. One of the major holdups for me is a simple and practical one: price and availability of building materials. It seems to me that in Ghana, building materials (cement, zinc, hardwood, reinforced steel mesh and bars) cost the same or higher than they do at home. So an estimate with Australian pricing (not including labour costs) would not be that far off. I assume that in Liberia, due to the problems with transport and infrastructure, they will be higher again.
Karrus also forwarded a letter from Engineers Without Borders (US), in response to a submission he had made for assistance with the building works. Being engineers, they weren’t too stressed about the building mechanics. However the major thrust of their response was around the viability of the school. As in, if we build it, will it be able to support itself? How will teachers get paid? What are the running costs? A quite astute observation and my concern as well. My own back of envelope had put salary costs around $3-5K per month, and running costs around the same again. It was unclear whether the staff total would be 30, or closer to 60. The rocket science was not to be in the construction but in the monthly income. The school had been supported for a long time by some wonderful and generous sponsors; however long term, they needed to become self sufficient somehow.