A continuation of my Project Updates - Local Market post from April.
Updates III – August 2024
Market Completed!
In June 2024, the mason installed the doors to the store area and added some finishing touches to the plastering, thus completing the work! The marketplace is an impressive structure, complete with a 3-meter by 7-meter storage area that has 2 strong, locking doors and 2 barred and closeable windows; 4 lockable half-doors for entry to the space; 12 selling tables; entirely high-quality iron materials for durability and heat reduction; and a mural commemorating the completion of the project through American generosity (although also a big shout-out here to the non-American donors!!). After 3 months of fundraising and 6 months of work, the marketplace has been opened for selling activities!
Outcomes (Pictures Below)
So far, I have seen several women using the marketplace in the mornings to sell sandwiches and basic vegetable products. One of the women currently uses the store to safely keep products which she buys in the regional town some 27 km away. This represents a big win for the marketplace as it allows her to have space for storage that she otherwise couldn’t have found at her home compound, which she then uses to provide vegetables to the village that are not currently being grown here. On a personal note, I bought a large and delicious eggplant from her recently and made a nice pasta dish out of it!
While the benefits are not yet fully realized as the gardens themselves have taken secondary status to farming activities, over time, it is expected that the marketplace will provide a robust selection of affordable vegetables for all villagers once gardening picks up again in November. In addition, each woman pays GMD 5 at the end of every selling day to the village Garden Committee. While a very small fee, when many women participate in selling activities, the Garden Committee will have a significant revenue stream that they can dedicate to further income-generating projects, such as cold storage for longer-lasting products. Moreover, village men have already expressed their desire to create a meat-selling stand on the side of the marketplace and to host a few tables where they might sell products such as fabric, all of which would also contribute to the funding pool. In short, through this project, the village has gained a solid foundation upon which to build further and better market operations.
Final Budget
Thank you to everyone who donated!! You contributed to something much more significant than I could have achieved on my own during service. I feel absolutely blessed to have had all of your support to build a structure that will serve this poor, rural community for decades to come. Over the course of the project, we raised around $4,700 from 23 donors with my own contributions accounting for ~12% of the total. Meanwhile, the final cost of the project came out to roughly $4,638, a remarkably similar figure to my first budget of $4,500. For those curious, here is the final budget:
Item | Quantity | Unit Cost (GMD) | Cost (GMD) |
Labor (mason) | 1 | 70000 | 70000 |
Cement | 125 | 394 | 49250 |
Corrugate | 24 | 1750 | 42000 |
Angle iron (40x40) | 22 | 1000 | 22000 |
Labor (welder) | 1 | 20000 | 20000 |
Pipe (round) | 10 | 1900 | 19000 |
Sand/Gravel (tractor-trips) | 27 | 700 | 18900 |
Roofing hooks | 660 | 23.5 | 15540 |
Pipe (40x40) | 21 | 650 | 13650 |
Rod (10 mm) | 30 | 365 | 10950 |
Transportation | 4 | -- | 7300 |
Doors (4 half, 2 full) / windows (2) | 1 | 7000 | 7000 |
Gutter | 6 | 650 | 3900 |
Tractor fuel | 2 | 1550 | 3100 |
Plywood | 2 | 1400 | 2800 |
Rod (6 mm) | 15 | 165 | 2475 |
Wood (1x2) | 10 | 140 | 1400 |
Locks | 4 | 350 | 1400 |
Aluminum plasterer | 1 | 900 | 900 |
Roofing hook shorteners | 3 | 250 | 750 |
Binding wire | 3 | 117 | 350 |
Nails (3 inch) | 2 | 125 | 250 |
Nails (2 inch) | 1 | 125 | 125 |
TOTALS | -- | -- | GMD 313,040 |
(USD) | -- | -- | ~USD $4,638 |
Photo Gallery
First row: the sides and back of the finished marketplace.
Second row: the interior and front of the marketplace, as well as some of the first selling activities.
Third row: continued selling activities, a woman storing produce from the nearest town to sell over time, and my eggplant pasta dish with the eggplant coming from that woman.