The problem with this project is crazy inflation in Ghana. We were actually really surprised about the prices for building material but the good news is that the community is coming together to provide the labor to make it happen. Very inspiring story of the guy who is behind this project. His grandmother (who is illiterate) insisted that he would go to the school regularly. This enabled him to get a scholarship for a statistics undergrad program in the US and he just graduated from UofU with a PhD in Public Health with emphasis on bio statistics. He has now returned to Ghana to rebuild the school (which is cancelled during rainy season as the roof is totally leaky and turns the school into a mud pool).
Absolutely right about the inflation in Ghana! A bag of cement has gone from ghc19 to ghc33 in about a year and the exchange rate is nuts! But as a Ghanaian I really appreciate your effort and what you are trying to achieve.
The satchel is really nice and I hope you ship to Ghana!
Can I make a few suggestions in order to reduce the construction cost for the school? Since there appears to be quite a bit of laterite in the area you could investigate hydraform blocks a bit further http://www.hydraform.com. The blocks use much less cement, are interlocking so construction is quicker and you need less mortar. Also the use of laterite should ensure a cooler interior.
ronbo, we work hard to find a measurable way to show our impact and I think you're right in pointing out that this isn't great. The way we calculated this was by dividing the entire cost of the project by the number of bricks needed to rebuild the school. The money we donate from each pack buys significantly more than 2 bricks, obviously, but this also includes concrete, roofing materials, labor, architectural plans, rebar, etc. We'll work on finding a better way of communicating this. We loved the idea of showing the impact by the number of bricks needed, but I think it falls short of showing the actual impact. Thanks for the feedback - very helpful!
