Brand New Sport’s Facilities but Not Where you Think!
At Northumbria we know how important good sports facilities are and as you may already know are only 4 months away from completion of our own brand new facilities. |
But in August 2009 three students from the School of the Built Environment were involved in the management of the construction of a brand new sports facility for Kabulonga High School for Girls… in Zambia!
Having found out about the project quite late the students had a very short time from late March to early August to raise the required £3000 but they began immediately and various activities were put into place such as a pub quiz and a sing-a-long.
Kabulonga High School for Girls is situated on the outskirts of Kabulonga and has around 2000 students but the facilities available to this school are shared with 6 other schools, meaning around 12,000 students use the facilities.
The existing facilities which were the focus of this project were three dilapidated tennis courts and a rebound court. The existing courts were overrun with weeds, cracks, pot holes and tree stumps, which made the facilities unusable.
The project, set up through Sport-in-Action and EduSport, was a large project at a value of £8000 and took four weeks to complete. It involved the re-surfacing of three existing courts and a rebound court, the erecting of wire fencing around the entire facility, the refurbishment of changing room facilities and much more.
Speaking about the experience, second year Construction Management student Kris Coulthard said: “ I never thought when I signed up that I would get a full page spread in a local UK newspaper, record a song with a Zambian singer or jump head first off the 2nd highest bridge in the world but these things just seem to happen in Zambia. I have made some fantastic friends and gained a mountain of knowledge and memories that will stay with me forever. I only hope that I can be involved in some way next year”
The School of the Built Environment will return to Zambia again in the summer of 2010/2011, with a new team of students to take on another construction project, and where once again our students will enjoy, and gain, from this once-in-a-life- time experience.
For more information about Built Environment courses visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/enquiries
Date posted: February 18, 2010
