St Joseph’s School Tenaru, Guadalcanal Province of the Solomon Islands building update.
In October 2017 we brought you the news that Tenaru was set to finally commence construction on new staff houses three years after a natural disaster flooded the existing dwellings. This particular natural disaster left 22 people dead and over 50,000 people homeless. AMS has been working in partnership with St Joseph’s school to design and construct new staff houses over a period of time. Each house will be raised on stilts and be inhabited by either single teachers, or a married couple and their family with all the basic living necessities. Schools in the Solomon Islands need to offer appropriate staff housing otherwise they cannot attract teachers to the school. At an approximate cost of $75,000 AUD, the school is unable to follow through on the constructions of these dwellings without the support of donations. Now thanks to the generous support of Catholic Mission, as well as local donations, St Joseph’s School is step closer to their first two houses.
Now under construction, these first two houses will provide vital accommodation to teachers, many of whom travel from remote villages and islands from all over the Solomons to board at the Marist school.
St Joseph’s was established in the late 1940s as a boys’ school, becoming co- educational in 1972 and supports more than 522 students, 33 Staff (teaching and non- teaching) and the surrounding community. Many of the buildings and classrooms that stand today are original. These building play a vital role in the school and community as they often double as food preparation areas for events and functions, as meeting rooms and emergency accommodation.
To learn more about this project or to support education in the Solomon Islands please visit: AMS Solomon Islands