Lukanga Secondary School

Led by headteacher Maimbo

Headteacher Maimbo of Lukanga Primary School kept watching the same thing happen: his students finishing 7th grade, and then dropping out. The nearest secondary schools were too far to reach on foot, and for many families, boarding elsewhere simply wasn’t an option. So he decided to do something about it himself.

Reaching out, and building a coalition

Maimbo reached out to the traditional leadership of Kabulwebulwe chiefdom, who had an existing relationship with Green Safaris through Ila Safari Lodge. Through BLC, Green Safaris donated $15,000, and BLC guided the process of building a sustainable secondary school using earthbag construction, a method that keeps costs down and classrooms cool, while giving the community itself a direct role in the build: filling and laying the bags themselves.

Finishing the job, twice

Government support that was meant to complete the final stages of the school did not materialise. So Maimbo, together with the Community Resource Board of Kabulwebulwe, stepped up again and sponsored the last work needed to finish the building. It was, in effect, the same determination that started the project seeing it through to the end.

What it means now

The school is open. The students who would have had to drop out after 7th grade, or walk hours each day, or board far from home, can now finish their secondary education close to where they live. For Maimbo, it started with watching students disappear from the system one grade too early. It ends with a school that keeps them in it.