Second Major GEI Meeting & Fabrizio's Report

We held our second big GEI meeting last night at my humble abode in Lyons. After eating pesto pasta, french bread, and drinking Italian sodas, we listened to Fabrizio Zangrelli give us an overview of what happened on his trip to Khane, Pakistan. I'll post the meeting notes later, but in summary, the project is a go. There are a few minor road blocks we have to take care of (setting up an "Alms" bank account and finding a plot of land on which to build the teacher's home), however, according to Fabrizio, "80% of the village is supportive of the renovation project."


About one-fifth of Khane's villagers showed up to meet with Fabrizio and celebrate the renovation of the girls' school. Photos by Fabrizio Zangrelli

Over the next few weeks Heidi and I will be drawing up the project management plan, I will be looking into potential donors/sponsors for the project, Elizabeth, Meca and I will be working on writing up the grant proposal, Heidi will be preparing for her Slide Show Tour, Daneille and Heidi will be doing additional research on what makes school projects successful in Pakistan, and all of us will be coming up with ideas for fund raising. We did estimate that we need to raise at least $15,000 by next March in order to begin the project in May.

It was determined that the following things need to be done to make the girls' school operational.
1. Dry wall, paint, and carpet the girls' school.
2. Fix the water pump for the girls' school
3. Buy and install a larger cable in order to bring four hours of electricity to the school
4. Install solar panels as a backup for when government provided electricity breaks down
5. Buy and deliver school supplies
6. Build a small home for the teacher
7. Hire a qualified female teacher (he found one willing to work in the village)
8. Hire a guard and a sweeper (standard in Pakistani schools)
9. Open up an "Alms" bank account (Muslim law requires banks to offer 18% interest for charity bank accounts).