awf-2014-report

New School, New Skills...
The school is sited in a location that bridges both untouched forest and
agricultural areas, reinforcing the importance of the land and natural
resources.
Many elements of the school were built by local hands using local materials.
Community members, for example, were trained in how to make and
install roof shingles from a local hardwood—a skill that they can then use
for future maintenance.
Elements of the school are beautifully designed and utilitarian: Classroom
doors have screens that provide acoustic separation while letting in light
and air; similarly, screens around the latrine provide privacy while also
allowing for cross-ventilation.
This is not your parents’ schoolhouse.
The building was designed with the humid tropical climes in mind, with
brick walls that go up two-thirds of the way to the ceiling to allow for
unrestricted airflow.
Nor is this elegant structure, with its gently curved roof and sweeping lines, the kind of building
you’d typically find in the middle of a tropical rainforest. But that’s exactly where the brand-new
Ilima Conservation Primary School is located: in a remote part of Democratic Republic of Congo
within the Congo Basin forest, the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world.
The Ilima community was one of the first in the Congo landscape to adopt and implement a
formal land-use plan to safeguard the permanent forest. AWF built the new conservation school
to reinforce the positive results that come from engaging in conservation, while also opening up
new opportunities for future generations through education.
Built with the hot and humid climate in mind, the school features a suspended roof with shingles
cut from a local hardwood and brick walls that only go up two-thirds of the way to ensure steady
airflow. Classroom doors have screens that provide acoustic separation while permitting light and
providing air circulation. Six classrooms open out onto the forest beyond, reinforcing the school’s
conservation tie-in.
Read about the latest
happenings at Ilima.
Already the new school is making a difference in a myriad of ways. “In the old building, when
it rained, we would immediately stop and release the children because we couldn’t finish our
lessons that way,” says Dieudonné Lokuli, a grade 6 teacher who has been at Ilima for eight years.
“Now rain is not a problem.” Enrollment is up 40 percent over the old Ilima school, with more than
300 students aged 5 to 14 taking classroom instruction.
And in a country where the average
citizen has just over three years of
formal education, a new attitude
toward education is taking root
at Ilima. Says Joed, a shy grade 2
student who likes science and math:
“I will carry on school until I am big.”
ABOVE: Designed as a comfortable learning environment for
students, Ilima is intended to also function as a community
center after-hours.
BOTTOM: The new Ilima School comprises two gently curving
blocks that house the six classrooms, separated by an openended
corridor that allows air, traffic and light to flow through.
See more photos on page 24.
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