This past August we reached a significant milestone on the Same Polytechnic College project. After several years of collaboration, 11 students from California Polytechnic State University joined us in Tanzania to build a prototype of the buildings they and their past classmates have designed for the future campus.
Our aim for the Same Polytechnic College is to not only expand higher education opportunities in rural East Africa but to also serve as a model for environmentally sustainable development in the region. Building prototypes gives us the chance to test and fine tune new design ideas on a small scale before building the entire campus.
With the students in Tanzania for only a few weeks, the construction was fast paced and exhausting but they did a phenomenal job working side by side with our local build team. Check out the video below for a recap of the construction and highlights from excursions to Mkomazi National Park, the South Pare Mountains and Zanzibar. A new team of Cal Poly students is preparing to join us again this coming August to build a new footbridge for a nearby primary school and we can’t wait to get started!