A frequently asked question is: How do you do that, building those schools? To which we usually fall a bit silent. Building in Mali, or in any other culture, is not a matter of simply opening a toolbox. The question makes it clear that, in the perception of others, our activities often seem to revolve solely around building schools and water wells. In fact, that is also the most visible part; this is how the activities of SDO (Stichting Dogon Onderwijs) began in 1995.
This book shows what we have been doing since 1995, and it is more than just building. The essence is actually best described as building regional development, educating, learning, and collaborating. The foundation for this was laid by our interest and presence since 1972 in the Dogon region. Since the construction of the first school and water well in 1995, much has been achieved by the foundation, much more than just construction projects.
The most important non-physical results are the hardest to measure and make visible. With this book, we make an attempt to also make this part tangible. It is a bird's eye view report of the realized projects, of schools, houses, wells, dams, and other buildings. A number of interviews have been included, a few essays with considerations about the approach, the transformation in building techniques, from building with clay in the early years through sand-cement blocks and natural stone to building with compressed earth bricks in recent years.
Read more about this on the website of Partners Pays Dogon (formerly SDO).