The Institute of Technology: The Construction of the Electricians’ Training Workshop
Francesco Possio and Clementina Grossi were married on 3rd September 2022 in a church on the outskirts of Turin in Italy. They invited their guests to donate funds for the construction of a specialised Electricians’ Training Workshop at the Got Matar Institute of Technology (IoT), rather than to give them wedding presents. Together, they gave them an amazing Euro 34,000, which will be enough to build the workshop and also to buy and install all necessary equipment to be used in practical training classes.
The reciept of the first instalment of Euro 25,000 was transferred by Associazione SONIA, the Italian registered charity that has collaborated with Got Matar for 20 years, was acknowledged on 15th December 2022.
The workshop will share the ground floor of a two-storey building with a training workshop for Plumbers, for which it is hoped that funds will be subscribed by other donors in the coming months. Work has already begun.
Please return to this page for photo reports on construction progress:
24th Apr 2023
These photos illustrate the laying of the reinforced concrete slab which forms the roof of the twin training workshops for the electricians’ and plumbers’ courses, and the floor of the next two workshops which will be constructed upstairs when we have received enough funding. The electricians’ workshop has been fully financed by guests invited by Francesco Possio and Clementina Grossi to their wedding last September..The plumbers’ section has been paid for by regular supporters of Got Matar, including several who generously supplemented their gifts when it became clear that, from a building safety perspective, simultaneous construction was preferable. Sufficient money has now been collected to pay for the internal finishing of these two important workshops which we hope can be completed in June. Much of the work has been undertaken by IoT students.
Grace Ochieng Andiki and her colleagues in the Got Matar Community Development Group have expressed their gratitude for your amazing support.
18th Mar 2023
Thanks to new donations, work has restarted on finishing the electricians’ and plumbers’ training workshops, with the laying of the ceiling-cum-upper floor slab.
12th Mar 2023
A Brief Pause in Construction
Following safety advice from the Kenyan National Construction Authority, GMCDG has been required to continue the simultaneous construction of the two training workshops on the ground floor of what will eventually be the IoT’s first two-floored building. The added costs of following this advice have led to minor design changes which, together with inflation in the prices of some building materials, have resulted in an increase in overall costs. We have also had to move away from the idea of pushing ahead with completing the electricians’ training workshop – for which full funding has been provided by the guests at Francesco and Clementina’s wedding – while allowing a lag in building the plumbers’ workshop until more funds had been received.
The matter has now been resolved as a result of the very generous response of several individuals who have been strong supporters of the Got Matar Community Development Group who have kindly come together to plug the funding gap, inspired by Francesco and Clementina’s commitment. Construction of the building’s upper slab will now go ahead following the new guidelines. The only remaining financing gap is for the internal finishing and fitting out of the plumbers’ workshop, estimated to cost about Euro 5,000. Any new donations made in the immediate future will be assigned to this and to the purchase of additional training equipment and supplies.
The result should be that, by the middle of this year, there should be high standard buildings in place for training students in these two very important subjects. We will keep you posted on progress in the coing weeks.
With many thanks to all involved!
11th Feb 2023
25th Jan 2023
17th Jan 2023
11th Jan 2023
Week 2
Less than 1 week later (on 26th December), excavation and initial cementing of the foundations had got off to a good start as shown in photos. Loose soil has been dug out so that the building’s reinforced concrete pillars can be set on underlying rock and stones. IoT students are engaged in mixing and barrowing cement, earning wages that they can apply to off-set their tuition fees while gaining practical experience in building. In the background is the very recently completed training workshop for Metalwork and Fabrication.
Week 8th Jan 2023
Week 1
Two photos, taken on 21st December, show the ceremony, conducted by clergy from Bondo Cathedral, of blessing of the site .Grace Ochieng Andiki, the GMCDG Founder and Programme Coordinator, is standing on the left of the first photo. In the background is the girls’ hostel, the second phase of which (on right) is nearing completion. The first phase, completed in 2021, is now fully occupied by 30 students.
Photo 3 shows the builder and IoT staff measuring the layout of the foundations.
